14 killed, 7 injured in south China explosion

1/13/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING  — Chinese state media say an explosion in a southern village has killed 14 people and injured seven others.

The Xinhua News Agency says the blast struck at 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) today outside the city of Kaili in the poor southern province of Guizhou. It says the cause of the explosion is under investigation.

Such blasts are sometimes caused by the illegal or unsafe storage of fireworks, demand for which spikes in the run-up to the Lunar New Year that falls this year on January 31.