HELSINKI, Oct 25 (Reuters) - One person was killed late on Thursday in an explosion of a pressure boiler at Finnish drugmaker Orion's <ORNBV.HE> subsidiary Ekokem's plant in Hanko, southern Finland, the fire brigade and company officials said.

"A boiler has exploded and one person has died. It happened between 9.30 and 10.00 p.m. local time (1830-1900 GMT)," said Stig Granstrom, fire chief on duty at Hanko.

He said the cause of the explosion was not clear. The boiler was around 10 cubic meters in size.

Ekokem's on-duty official confirmed an explosion had taken place and one person at the plant in Hanko had been killed.

Orion's plant head Jorma Mamia said he was not yet at the scene but had been told an explosion had taken place in Orion's plant area.

"It appears to be Ekokem's plant, which was scheduled to be taken into operation," he said.

Ekokem is a hazardous and industrial waste treatment company. The plant was built to capture gas emissions to generate heating at the Orion plant. (Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen and Sami Torma)

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