Twenty killed in fireworks blast

At least 20 people have been killed by a cache of fireworks that was hidden from safety inspectors and blew up in a home in south-east China.

It was the second such tragedy to strike the same county in a month.

Last night’s explosion in Shadi, in the coastal province of Fujian, knocked down houses up to 200ft away and injured more than 30 people.

State media said the fireworks were being hidden in the house to evade a safety crackdown launched in the county after a blast on July 31 at another factory killed five people.

Explosions and fires cause hundreds of deaths every year in China’s fireworks industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people. Many are in poor rural areas and work at home or in rudimentary factories.

Fatal accidents occur regularly despite repeated government safety crackdowns.

Following the July 31 explosion, authorities ordered unspecified steps to “strengthen the management” of fireworks factories in the county.

But state media said several producers had moved fireworks out of factories in the area in order to evade inspections.

It said a “large number of fireworks” were stored at the house that exploded last night, but not how many. The report did not give a cause for the blast or say whether anyone connected with trying to hide the fireworks was arrested.