A fire at a plant belonging to Apple Inc supplier Foxconn Group in Shandong, eastern China, has been extinguished without casualties and there will be no impact on operations, said a spokesman for group's listed entity Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd .

Electrical cables on a building rooftop caught fire on Tuesday morning, the spokesman said, adding that any damage would be covered by insurance. He did not say what was produced at the plant, in the city of Yantai.

Officials at the technology park in which the plant is situated were unavailable for comment.

The fire was first reported on Chinese websites. An initial report on Sina.com (here), picked up by other websites, showed photographs of thick black smoke over buildings. Flames were also visible in some pictures, which the websites said were submitted by eye witnesses.

Video footage of the fire was also shown on the sites and picked up by Taiwanese television stations.

Foxconn Group has struggled under a host of problems, including rising costs, labour unrest and a string of worker suicides at its sprawling production facilities in China.

In May, an explosion at its electronics polishing facility in Chengdu, western China, killed three and injured 15. The plant was linked to production of Apple's iPad2.

Foxconn employs about 1.2 million workers, 1 million of whom are based in mainland China.

Shares of Hon Hai reversed early gains to close down 0.73 percent on Tuesday. The Taiwan market finished up 3.09 percent. Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings Ltd was up 6 percent in afternoon trading.

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