Fukishima power plant
Representational ImageReuters

At least nine people were killed after an operation platform collapsed at a power plant in the southern province of Guangdong, China, on Saturday, according to Xinhua news agency. 

The incident occurred at the No.2, 7 Thermal Power Plant in the provincial capital, Guangzho. 

Reports state that the plant is still under construction and that the government has launched an investigation.

China's performance is dismal when it comes to workplace safety standards, and the country is said to prioritise business and its profits above all else.

Recent industrial disasters in the country include an explosion at a hazardous material warehouse in the eastern city of Tianjin in August 2015 that killed at least 114 people.

Last year, in August, a pipeline explosion at a coal-fired power plant killed 21 people. More than 130 people were rushed to the hospital earlier this year after a toxic chemical leak in a plant in eastern China.

In April 2016, a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to douse the flames. In 2015, chemical blasts in China's port city of Tianjin caused severe destruction and took more than 170 lives.

Chinese authorities have been promising strict safety procedures at industrial facilities.