The Chinese start-up – which last year beat its rivals, including US-based SpaceX, to launch Zhuque-2, the world’s first methane-fuelled rocket, into orbit – said there were no abnormalities during the test.

The company and district government said no explosion occurred at the moment.

Residents in Yushu Road posted on social media their reactions following the incident.

“My windows were shaking badly, and then there was the sound of fire trucks in the street,” one resident wrote. “It felt like an earthquake or enormous thunder to me,” a person told The South China Morning Post.