Twenty-eight people were injured when a rogue firework accidentally set off thousands of others in a Spanish church bell tower, raining sparks and burning material on people gathered for a festival below.

A spokeswoman for Elche Town Hall in eastern Spain said the church fireworks were covered by a protective blanket and in a pack designed to shoot mini-rockets some 300m into the air before exploding.

But a firework fired from elsewhere landed on the pack, igniting the fuses minutes before the scheduled midnight launch.

The spokeswoman said three firework operators were admitted to hospital suffering serious burns while 25 people were treated for minor injuries.

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