A liquid ammonia leak from a refrigeration unit at a cold storage facility in Shanghai on Saturday has killed 15 people and injured 26 others, local authorities said.

The leak occurred at 10:50 am local time (0250 GMT / 10:50 p.m. EDT) at Shanghai Weng's Cold Storage Industrial Co. Ltd., located in the Baoshan district of eastern Shanghai, the Shanghai municipal government said on its official Sina Weibo account.

Six of those injured were in a critical condition, the government said.

China, the world's second-largest economy, has a poor record on workplace safety. In June, at 120 people died and 77 were injured when a fire engulfed a chicken processing plant in northeastern Jilin province.

Many of China's deadly industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which more than 1,300 people died last year from explosions, mine collapses and floods.-Reuters