World - Revelers celebrating a birthday set off fireworks inside a bar in southern China, triggering a blaze that killed 15 people and injured 22, state media said. The fire in Changle, a city in the southern province of Fujian, started just before midnight on Saturday, when 10 people lit the fireworks at their table, the Xinhua News Agency said. Fireworks are sold and set off everywhere during Lunar New Year festivities, which lasted all week and ended Saturday. Also known as Spring Festival, it is the country's biggest holiday.

The explosion "set the ceiling on fire and the entire place was soon engulfed in flames," Xinhua said, citing a city government spokesman.

It took 30 minutes to put out the blaze and firefighters found 35 people in the debris. The 15 dead suffocated, the report said. Three of the injured were in critical condition, while the other 17 were treated overnight at the Changle City Hospital.

Two other people in the bar escaped on their own and received medical treatment, the spokesman said.

A woman who answered the telephone at the city government office on Sunday confirmed the incident but declined to give any other details.

Written and photos by Associated Press