A man was killed when an object thought to be a gas canister exploded from a bonfire, fire investigators said.
The man, who has not been identified, was killed instantly in the explosion in the Bilston area of Wolverhampton at around 9pm on Saturday.
West Midlands Fire Service would not identify where exactly the bonfire was being held, but it was not thought to have been a public event.
A spokesman said: "The explosion resulted in a projectile coming from the bonfire, causing a fatal injury to an adult male.
"This is a very tragic incident and is being dealt with by the police and fire investigation teams.
"The tragedy was caused because there was something in there that should not have been in there.
"We would imagine it would be a gas canister, although at this stage it could have been anything from an aerosol can to an LPG bottle."
He added: "The big lesson from this needs to be that you need to check the contents of bonfires to ensure there is nothing in there likely to explode and to cause injury to members of the public."
