Toyota on Wednesday said at least 67 employees were injured after giant explosions last week in the Chinese city of Tianjin, where the carmaker's factory lines will remain closed for the next few days.

Production at Toyota's Tianjin subsidiary -- including a factory line 70 kilometres (44 miles) away that depends on parts from the main operation -- has been halted since the blasts.

"We last confirmed that over 50 employees who live in the surrounding area, including in company accommodation, have been injured," a company spokesman said in Tokyo.

"The updated number is 67," the spokesman said.

"Since we have been unable to confirm the safety of the area in the vicinity of the blast, we have decided to keep production offline from August 20 through August 22," he added.

Toyota's operations had been shut for a week's summer holiday when the explosions occurred, with production due to restart Sunday, so there was no immediate impact on production from the disaster.

The main Tianjin factory, which produces several models including the Corolla and Vios sedan, has about 12,000 employees and manufactured 440,000 vehicles last year.

The deadly blasts also damaged a pair of Toyota dealerships that required them to temporarily close, while some other Japanese firms including Panasonic and carmaker Mazda reported minor damage at their operations in Tianjin.

bur-si/kb

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