A fire that broke out on Thursday at grain silos in the French port of La Rochelle is under control and had not reached the stored grain, silo operator SICA Atlantique said.

Local authorities said earlier that a major fire was underway in four grain silos at La Rochelle, adding that 70 firefighters were at the site, with reinforcements underway.

France is the European Union's biggest grain producer and La Rochelle on France's Atlantic coast is one of the country's largest grain export terminals.

Most recently, a fire broke out in a grain silo in a northwestern Turkish port.

Twelve people were injured after the powerful explosion rocked the warehouse of the Turkish Grain Board at Derince Port in Kocaeli province on Aug. 7., leaving a trail of destruction.

The blast took place due to wheat dust compression during the transfer of wheat from a ship to the silos, Seddar Yavuz, the governor of Kocaeli province, said at the time. It was not clear what other grain was stored in the silos.

The blast damaged some 15,000 tons of grain.