Seven killed in fireworks-related incidents in China

Fireworks-related incidents have left multiple casualties in China, where upcoming lunar New Year is a time of setting off sparklers and firecrackers.

China’s Xinhua news agency reported that, in one incident on Saturday, two people were killed and 16 others were injured in an explosion at a fireworks workshop in a rural area of northern China. Six went missing.

The explosion destroyed the workshop where the fireworks were made and damaged about a dozen homes in Yanzihe Village in Hebei Province.

Police sources said the villager who owned the workshop was allegedly involved in the illegal storage and production of fireworks.

Another firework-related explosion on Saturday killed five people in east China’s Shandong Province, local authorities said. The blast happened at a house at Jiulongmiao Village, near the city of Dezhou.

Police have taken the house owner into custody as an investigation into the incident is underway.

SS