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Japanese police were yesterday investigating the cause of an explosion at a fireworks festival which left at least 60 people injured, including some with serious burns, when it ripped through the crowded site.
Witnesses recounted seeing victims, including children, screaming as they rolled around on the ground to try to put out the flames, while the thousands who had gathered for the Thursday night festival fled in panic.

The explosion is believed to have erupted at one of hundreds of concession stands lining a nearby riverbank at the festival in Fukuchiyama, about 70 kilometres north of Kyoto.
The festival normally attracts up to 100,000 people.
Video footage showed the stalls, which had been selling drinks and snacks, going up in flames and sending smoke into the night sky, before a larger blast erupted.
Early accounts said the incident was believed to have been caused by a gas cylinder, but Jiji Press news agency said police suspect the fire may have started when a vendor added petrol to a running power generator.
"I heard a bang and then saw a billow of smoke," one 37-year-old man, who had been volunteering near the site, told Kyodo.
Pictures from the scene showed charred concession booths and an abandoned baby stroller among the picnic blankets and clothing left behind after the crowd fled in the aftermath of the blast.
Of the 60 injured, at least 18 people suffered major burns and other serious injuries, according to police. One 10-year-old boy remained in intensive care yesterday.
"I heard a boy crying, atsui, atsui [hot, hot]'," one middle-aged man told Nippon Television from the scene yesterday morning.
"People gathered ice cubes from wherever they could and used them to cool peoples' burns," he said.
The fireworks display was cancelled after the incident. It was unclear how many spectators were in the immediate vicinity of the festival.
A 27-year-old man told the Yomiuri daily newspaper that he saw the fire start near a jerrycan sitting next to a generator at the back of a concession stand.
When a man, who appeared to be the vendor, opened the can's lid, a hissing noise was heard just before a fire started, the Yomiuri said.
"We'll have to see the results of our on-site investigation to determine the cause of the fire," a local police officer said.
The police serious crimes division was taking part in a joint investigation with firefighters as they probed the possibility of negligence resulting in the accident, he said.


Sixty injured in explosion at fireworks festival near Kyoto 

Police investigators gather at the site of a Thursday's blast in Kyoto. Photo: AP

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At least 19 suffer serious burns after explosion at a stall in event near Kyoto


Japanese police were yesterday investigating the cause of an explosion at a fireworks festival which left at least 60 people injured, including some with serious burns, when it ripped through the crowded site.


Sixty injured in explosion at fireworks festival near Kyoto

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}At least 19 suffer serious burns after explosion at a stall in event near Kyoto

At least 19 suffer serious burns after explosion at a stall in event near Kyoto