10-year-old dies after explosion at Japan fireworks festival

A 10-year-old boy died Monday after an explosion at a fireworks festival in western Japan, bringing the death toll in the accident to two, news reports said.

The boy was among the 60 victims of the explosion Thursday night in Fukuchiyama city, 450 kilometres west of Tokyo.

He had suffered severe burns all over his body, the Kyodo News agency quoted police as saying.

A 44-year-old woman who had accompanied the boy to the festival also died over the weekend.

Thirty-one injured victims were still in hospital Monday, Kyodo said.

The blast was caused by gasoline that one stall operator was believed to taken to the site, the police said.