The death toll from a fireworks explosion in the city of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Wednesday has risen to 25, after three people succumbed to their injuries in hospital, an official said yesterday.

Twenty-two people died at the scene, and 10 others were injured, Zheng Qiang, deputy secretary of the Turpan Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, said.

Five people are still missing, he said.

The incident happened at about 7 pm, when police officers were attempting to dispose of eight truckloads of confiscated fireworks in the Gobi desert, near the Turpan tollgate of national highway 202.

Although the identities of the victims have yet to be released, they are believed to have been mostly police officers, staff of an explosives dismantling firm and journalists covering the event. Two of those killed are known to be a journalist with the Turpan Radio Station and a camera operator from a local TV station.

One of the people injured in the blast died en route to the hospital, while two others died undergoing surgery at the Turpan Prefecture People's Hospital, Zheng said.

Two people remain in critical condition, but five others are out of danger, doctors said.

Rescue teams at the site of the blast have been collecting body parts from the debris and DNA tests are being carried out to identify the victims.

An official with the local work safety bureau, who declined to be named, said: "The firecrackers had been confiscated from a producer in Qiatekele."

Gas blast kills 9

In another development, at least nine miners were killed on Wednesday in a gas explosion at a colliery in Hunan province, the local government said yesterday.

The blast happened at about 6:30 pm at the Zhangjiazhou coal mine in Chenzhou, while 17 people were working, an investigation found.

Three workers are known to have survived the blast, but five others are still missing.

The deputy governor of Hunan and head of the provincial work safety agency helped supervise the rescue operation, the government said.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 03/28/2008 page3)