Beijing ? Revelers celebrating a birthday set off fireworks inside a bar in southern China, triggering a blaze that killed 15 people and injured 20, 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.

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

The 15 dead suffocated, the spokesman said. Three of the injured were in critical condition, while the other 17 were treated overnight at the Changle City Hospital, he said.