Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday sent a message to his Zambian counterpart Levy Patrick Mwanawasa to express his sympathy to the government and people of Zambia following the deaths of 37 people in an explosion at a factory part-owned by a Chinese company.

In the message, Hu asked the Zambian president to convey his condolences to the families and relatives of those killed or injured in the explosion.

Reports from Zambia say a mining explosives factory blew up Wednesday in Kitwe, a mining city in Zambia's Copperbelt province that lies about 400 km north of the Zambian capital Lusaka. Nine people are still missing.

The explosion destroyed the building of BGRIMM Explosives (Zambia) Ltd., a 7.6 million US dollar joint venture between China's Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the NFC Africa Mining Company.

In his message, Hu said he had instructed relevant Chinese government departments to take immediate action and cooperate with their Zambian counterparts to handle the accident and settle related problems.

The Chinese president said he is confident that the two countries will make joint efforts to surmount the difficulties and resume normal operations at the factory.

NFC Africa is the owner of the Chambezi copper mine where the explosives factory is located. The operation of the mine was not affected by the accident.

The factory, operational since October 2003, has the capacity to produce 6,000 tons of explosives a year.