20 dead in fireworks explosions in central China

BEIJING – Twenty people were killed in two separate fireworks explosions in a central Chinese city, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

The explosions happened Tuesday in Wuhan, a major city in China's Hubei province.

A group of more than 20 government officials and police raided a village near the city Tuesday night to confiscate fireworks from farmers who were selling them, Xinhua said.

An explosion in a fireworks dealer's house shortly thereafter killed 17 people, including five police officers, and injured seven others, the agency said. The dealer's house was leveled and a police car was destroyed, Xinhua said.

In a separate explosion in the city hours earlier, three people were killed at an illegal private fireworks plant, Xinhua said.