Twelve people were killed in an explosion at a firework shop in Hubei in central China on Wednesday, just days after eight people died in a similar incident in a nearby province.The accident happened just before 2.30pm on the second day of Lunar New Year in Zhengji township in the city of Xiangyang, state news agency Xinhua reported.The report added that the subsequent fire spread across the premises and was put out within an hour. An investigation into the cause is under way.The explosion followed another deadly blast in Lianyungang in Jiangsu province on Sunday, the first day of the nine-day holiday period, which killed eight people and injured two others.The authorities blamed the incident on improper handling of fireworks and detained a number of people as investigations continued.Traditionally, fireworks and firecrackers are set off across China during the Lunar New Year period. They are seen as a way to welcome prosperity and good luck and ward off evil spirits.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS160
ENT7
WED · 2026-02-18 · 12:15 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0218-17282
NSR-2026-0218-17282News Report·EN·Human Interest
12 killed in China’s second deadly Lunar New Year firework explosion
On Wednesday, an explosion at a firework shop in Zhengji township, Xiangyang, Hubei province, China, killed twelve people. The incident occurred around 2:30 pm on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and the resulting fire was extinguished within an hour.
Victoria BelaSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-02-18 · 12:15 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
160words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
7entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
On Wednesday, an explosion at a firework shop in Zhengji township, Xiangyang, Hubei province, China, killed twelve people. The incident occurred around 2:30 pm on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and the resulting fire was extinguished within an hour. This follows a similar explosion on Sunday in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, which killed eight and injured two due to improper handling of fireworks. Authorities have detained individuals related to the first incident as investigations continue. Fireworks are traditionally used during the Lunar New Year to welcome prosperity and ward off evil spirits.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 5Entities 7
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Human Interest
Economic Impact
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
5 extracted01
The authorities blamed the incident on improper handling of fireworks.
factual
Confidence
1.00
02
Another deadly blast in Lianyungang in Jiangsu province killed eight people.
factual
Confidence
1.00
03
The fire was put out within an hour.
factualXinhua
Confidence
1.00
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The explosion happened in Zhengji township in the city of Xiangyang.
factualXinhua
Confidence
1.00
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Twelve people were killed in an explosion at a firework shop in Hubei, China.
factual
Confidence
1.00
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 160 words§ 05
Entities
7 identified§ 06
Keywords & salience
8 termsfirework explosion
1.00
lunar new year
0.90
fireworks
0.80
china
0.70
accident
0.60
deaths
0.50
investigation
0.50
improper handling
0.40
§ 07
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