TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- An explosion of fireworks in the basement of a residential building killed four people and injured two others in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia on Friday, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

       Hamid Mahboubi, head of the provincial Red Crescent Society, said the blast occurred on Friday afternoon.

       Six people were pulled out of the rubble, Mahboubi said, adding four of them were dead and two were wounded and taken to the hospital, according to the ISNA.

       Accidents caused by fireworks are more frequent in Iran in the days leading up to the traditional Fire Festival, celebrated by Iranians on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 this year.