Two suspected gas explosions occurring several hours apart killed 10 people and wounded dozens more in an industrial zone in Turkey's capital Ankara on Thursday, local officials said.

Four people were dead and eight people were hurt in a paint-production plant in Ankara after a second blast hit the area around 7:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m. EST), Governor Alaaddin Yuksel told reporters in comments broadcast live by the NTV news channel.

Some 15 others were still trapped in the building as toxic chemicals and fire made it difficult for rescue workers to enter the premises, Yuksel said.

Television images showed firefighters battling flames as black smoke poured out of a building.

Yuksel also said the plant lacked a proper licence for paint production.

In a separate explosion at 11 a.m., six people were killed and 27 people were hurt in the same industrial district.

Two floors of a factory making generators collapsed when a blast thought to be caused by a build-up of gas ripped through the plant, local mayor Fethi Yasar told television stations.

Turkey has the second-highest workplace mortality rate in the world, according to the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK).