An explosion at a chemical plant in Argentina left more than 60 people injured and caused extensive damage to nearby buildings, officials said Friday.

The blast occurred overnight Thursday in the city of Cordoba, Argentina's second most populous city, some 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of Buenos Aires.

Officials said the injured were neighbors of the plant, which was closed at the time of the explosion.

"I was laying in bed asleep, when I heard a tremendous blast. I thought a plane had crashed in front of my house," Claudio Utrera, a resident of the neighborhood, told the daily La Voz del Interior newspaper.

The governor of Cordoba province, Jose Manuel de la Sota, told reporters that the blast created a huge crater and caused a gas leak.