Apowerful blast rocked China's busiest shipping terminal on Friday when a container exploded on a pier-side cargo ship in the country's eastern Ningbo Zhoushan Port, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Images shared on Chinese social media website Weibo and later carried by state news outlets showed smoke rising from the vessel YM Mobility moments before the explosion near its bow at around 1:40 p.m. local time.

Videos captured a large fireball and plumes of dark smoke rising into the sky. Debris, including suspected container goods, was seen scattered across the nearby pier at Beilun terminal, one of several at the port in China's eastern Zhejiang province.

The Liberia-flagged YM Mobility is owned by Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., a Taiwanese shipping company.