AN American man in northern California igniting illegal fireworks blew off both of his hands when a device exploded prematurely, police said.

    Officer Albert Morales of the San Jose Police Department said the man in his 40s is expected to live. The explosive went off in the man’s hands as family members stood nearby late on the Fourth of July holiday.

    “It would have had to have been something pretty powerful,” Morales told the San Jose Mercury News.

    The newspaper also reported that two other men were seriously injured in Sunnyvale while lighting a mortar-like explosive Friday.

    The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said that at 10 p.m. the men — ages 41 and 32 — were hurt at an apartment complex when the illegal firework ignited prematurely. Witnesses in a group of about 20 people said the men had been trying to ignite the firework when it went off in their hands, officials reported.

    One man lost fingers on his left hand and finger tips on the right hand, while officials said the other man lost part of his right hand.

    In southern California, a man lost his thumb Friday after the firecracker he was holding exploded in his hand, Long Beach police said Sunday. (SD-Agencies)