BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China has beefed up the crackdown on illegal production or selling of fireworks in the run-up to the Spring Festival.
The Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday that in order to prevent explosions it had ordered local bureaux to step up the safety monitoring work and severely crack down on activities of producing or selling fireworks and fire cracks without authorization.
The local offices were ordered to cooperate with other authorities, find and punish illegal producers and sellers and strengthen the safety check-up of fireworks transportation by road.
Fireworks are a key part of the celebrations of the Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year. Chinese businesses have stepped up producing and selling fireworks with the approach of the festival, the most important Chinese holiday which falls on Jan. 26 this year.
Since last November, blasts from illegal fireworks production have claimed many lives, the ministry said.
In one of the latest cases, a firework plant explosion on Saturday in Weifang of eastern Shandong Province killed 13 people and injured two others. A couple have been arrested.
Another 11 people have been killed in four separate illegal firework plant explosions in Guangdong, Hunan, Shandong and Hebei provinces since mid-November, according to the State Council Work Safety Commission.