Nine people have died in a fire at a waste processing facility in southern China.

The fire has been extinguished and one survivor has been sent to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.

The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in Qingyuan city in the southern province of Guangdong, the report said.

Police have detained at least one person in connection with the fire and an investigation is on-going.