Thai Rocket Festival Starts With The Wrong Kind Of Bang

A rocket festival in Thailand takes a dangerous turn after launch procedure goes horribly wrong during the opening. The men who were tasked with starting the fire got the fright of their lives when the lighting procedure that was supposed to announce the start of the <a href="https://rumble.com/v3kpvh-howell-hosts-57th-annual-melon-festival.html" target="_blank">festival</a> resulted in a massive explosion, nearly taking out the two fire-starters in the process.

The two men were supposed to ignite the charges using flames fixed at the end of long poles. They drop the flaming poles in the heap on the platform and start running away, while a huge cloud of white smoke begins forming. But what was supposed to be a carousel of lights and <a href="https://rumble.com/v35cxg-5288884.html" target="_blank">fireworks</a> turned into a scene from Hell, when the entire setup blows and starts sending flaming pieces of shrapnel hundreds of feet in the air.

Instead of following a simple, skyward trajectory, the rockets on the setup exploded on themselves, presenting a fiery demon engulfed in smoke, instead of the graceful presentation that was planned, giving the organizers and everyone watching quite the unpleasant surprise.

Thankfully no one was hurt, as even the men who had to start the rockets dodged the out-of-control rocket explosion.

The festival is part of an annual event, The festival is held annually, in May, in Yasothon and is part of a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced by ethnic Lao people. Known as Bun Bang Fai, it is the loudest, and obviously most dangerous, events in Thailand.