Fifteen people are dead and nine others injured after detonators went off, causing an explosion in a village of central China's Henan Province Saturday.

It happened at about 1:12 a.m. in Donggancheng Village of Puyang city, northeast of Henan, the provincial work safety supervision administration said.

An initial investigation determined the detonators were illegally stored in a large residential yard set up by villagers. Experts said they contained more than 35 kg of explosives.

Police are trying to figure out if the blast was accidental.

"I heard a strong explosion at midnight and the windows shattered," said Wang Shunjiao, 50, who lived in the yard.

More than 10 homes collapsed. Another 60 sustained damage to roofs and walls.

"I jumped off my bed and rushed to the site of the blast with many neighbors to rescue people," Wang recalled. She added, white smoke and a bad smell lingered in the air.

Villagers used bricks and tile to set up more than 80 huts in the yard, which was being leased without approval from local authorities.

About 27 migrant workers were living in the makeshift homes. The majority of the houses were vacant.

The blast left a one-meter-deep, two meter wide, hole in the ground.

Police were hunting for suspects who stored the detonators, according to Wang Yurui, a publicity official with the government of Puyang.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2008)