Zou Qi and Li Xinran/ Shanghai Daily news

Three overseas sailors were killed by a gas leak on Thursday while repairing a ship docked at Shanghai's Chongming Island, Shanghai Daily reported.

All three victims were from the Philippines, according to an initial investigation by the work safety watchdog. Thirteen others were injured and were sent to hospital.

The accident took place at 4:30pm when the crews were repairing the carbon dioxide system on the Panama-registered cargo ship Hakone. The system was used to extinguish the fire on the ship.