Explosion kills 15, injures nine in central China

[amg]

Beijing - At least 15 people died and nine were injured on Saturday after illegally stored detonators exploded at a village in central China's Henan province, state media said. The explosion at 1:12 am (1712 GMT Friday) destroyed at least 10 houses in Donggancheng village near Henan's Puyang city, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The detonators were illegally stored by villager Li Hongyu in a residential yard that he had rented, the agency quoted local safety officials as saying.

Rescuers and police were still investigating the cause of the accident and the volume of detonators stored in the yard, the agency said.