A blast killed at least 25 people, injured nine and has left five missing in a desert near Xinjiang's Turpan City as policemen and explosives experts were preparing to destroy about 900 boxes of fireworks on Wednesday.

China's national television station, CCTV, reported yesterday that most of the victims were police officials, explosives experts and journalists who were there to cover the destruction.

The report said the blast occurred at 5 pm on Wednesday when the police were dumping fireworks into a ditch in the Gobi Desert in Qiquanhu County, about 30 kilometers away from urban areas of Turpan.

Footage aired on CCTV showed a large patch of brown sand that had been burned black and several sport utility vehicles reduced to charred shells. One was flipped on its back.

Twenty two people were killed immediately. One died on the way to hospital, and two died later during operations at Turpan Prefecture People's Hospital.

Another two of the nine injured are in critical conditions, but the lives of the others are no longer in danger, doctors said.

Among the dead were a journalist from the Turpan radio station and a camera operator from the local TV station.

The blast caused a major fire to break out which destroyed nine vehicles and damaged another, CCTV said.

The blaze was extinguished after about an hour. Firefighters had to work from a distance because some fireworks had not exploded.

Rescuers have been collecting body parts from the debris of the explosion and DNA tests are being carried out to identify those missing.

Local police dismissed speculation of a terror attack. Urumqi Online, a local news Website, said yesterday that the explosion was an accident, citing a female police official on the spot.

The State Administration of Work Safety has sent a team to investigate the blast.

(Shanghai Daily, March 28, 2008)