A fireworks maker and his teenage nephew were killed and three others injured when a tube of gunpowder exploded in their house in Takeo province’s Tram Kak district on Tuesday, officials said yesterday.

District police chief Nhem Sern said that Ngen Sum, 52, and Thorn Ri, 13, died when fireworks they were making at their residence exploded. He could not identify the other three injured in the blast, but said two were treated at the Takeo provincial hospital. The other was transported to Phnom Penh with serious injuries. “Previously, the police have prohibited them [villagers] from producing fireworks and illegally importing gunpowder, but the villagers seem to ignore the warnings,” Nhem Sern said.