Watch giant explosion as Chinese rocket crashes into mountain after ‘accidental’ launch during testing

A CHINESE rocket crashed into a hillside with a huge explosion after being accidentally launched during a test on Sunday.

The rocket, owned by Chinese private space company Tianbig Technology, was supposed to be an upcoming rival to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

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The Tianlong-3 rocket, which means Sky Dragon 3 in English, was on the launch pad ready for testing.

But images that went viral on social media show the Tianlong-3 rocket in the air, before returning to Earth in an uncontrolled fall.

The rocket then crashes into a wooded hillside in the city of Gongyi in China’s Henan province.

According to Tianbig Technology, the rocket “crashed into a deep mountain 1.5 km southwest of the test stand.”

He added that there were no casualties in the incident and that people in the area were evacuated.

In a statement, the rocket company said the shock at liftoff was caused by a “structural failure in the connection between the rocket body and the test stand.”

This failure caused the on-board computer to shut down automatically, the company said.

Parts of the rocket landed inside a “safe area,” according to a separate statement from the Gongyi emergency management department.

However, the agency said the incident caused a fire in the local area, which has since been extinguished.

The Tianlong-3 rocket is a partially reusable, two-stage rocket, much like the Falcon 9.