One person was killed and four others injured in a chemical spill at a closed-down pesticide plant in Anqiu City in east China's Shandong Province Tuesday, the local work safety bureau said.

The accident occurred at 7 a.m. in Jiang Jiazhuangzi Village, Guanzhuang Town, when a container of sodium methyl mercaptide being handled by five workers spilt several hundred liters of the liquid chemical.

One of the workers died after being rushed to hospital. The four other workers were injured, one of them seriously.

The chemical leak is not a major threat to the environment, the work safety bureau said.

The plant was being used for an illegal chemical-storage and -dealing business, the work safety bureau said.

The whereabouts of the business's owners is unknown.

Police are investigating the case.

Sodium methyl mercaptide is used to make pesticides, medicine and dyes.