Local police in central China's Henan Province have arrested two of the five people responsible for an explosion Tuesday in an illegal detonator workshop which killed four people and injured 19 others.

The three others are on the run with police on their trail, said police sources.

The preliminary police investigation shows that the five people rented a house in Donggancheng village near Puyang City using a borrowed name. On the pretext of carrying out home refurbishing, they hired transient workers to make detonators without a permit.

An explosion occurred around 1:20 PM on September 5, just ten days after the illegal detonator workshop began production. Four people were killed on the spot and 19 others injured. Two rooms were destroyed in the blast.

The police have seized more than 2,000 detonators and components produced by the illegal workshop.

All the injured are in hospital.

Further investigation of the blast is underway, police sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2006)