A truck carrying fireworks intended for Chinese New Year exploded on an elevated highway, in Henan province sending cars plummeting 100ft.
Five were killed, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua, while other reports said there were 26 dead.
The blast, which destroyed an 262ft section of road, took place on the G30 expressway in Mianchi county. Part of the road collapsed and witnesses said some cars were thrown off the road by the force of the blast.
Search and rescue efforts were continuing at the site. Eight people had been injured, Xinhua said.
The cause of the explosion has not yet been confirmed. It occurred 55 miles west of Luoyang, an ancient capital of China known for grottoes of Buddhist statues carved from limestone cliffs.
Fireworks are an enormously popular part of Chinese Lunar New Year festivities. In 2006, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a storeroom of fireworks exploded at a temple fair in Henan, killing 36 people and injuring dozens more.
In 2000, an unlicensed fireworks factory in southern China exploded, killing 33 people, including 13 primary and secondary school students working there.
