At least 27 people were killed and 72 injured when a huge explosion ripped through a liquefied natural gas plant near the eastern Algerian port of Skikda.

A defective boiler apparently caused the blast. The accident is Algeria's worst industrial accident since independence in 1962.

An official of the plant said in a radio interview that shortly before the explosion he had heard 'bizarre, abnormal noises coming from a boiler'.

Energy and Mining Minister Chakib Khelil told the radio earlier it was unclear how many people were working in the part of the plant that was devastated by the blast. Rescue workers were digging through the wreckage hunting for more bodies.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika interrupted a visit to Algeria's third largest city, Constantine, to go to the disaster site.

Agencies