Fri Jul 7, 7:25 AM ET
The accident happened in Dongzhai village, in the northern coal-mining province of Shanxi, after the building had caught fire, Xinhua said.
A large crowd had gathered, some trying to put out the blaze, others just watching.
"The villager's home was blasted into rubble," it said, quoting a local official.
Deadly blasts caused by privately stored explosives are not rare in Shanxi, where about a quarter of China's coal is produced.
In April, at least 33 people were killed and buildings flattened in the city of Yuanping when explosives stored by a former coal-mine owner blew up.
Ten villagers were killed in a gold-mining town in Shanxi in a blast at a family dynamite workshop in June.
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