Officials said a Connecticut woman was seriously injured during a blackout Thursday evening when she lit a quarter stick of dynamite she mistook for a candle.

Per the Hartford Courant, the 30-year-old woman suffered extensive injuries to her hands and face at her Bridgeport home. The woman’s husband and two children were reportedly home at the time of the blast but weren’t injured.

WVIT reported that the family planned to purchase emergency lighting from Home Depot but the store was closed. Police said the family then recalled seeing something that they thought were candles in the basement.

Calling the incident a “tragic accident,” city spokesperson Av Harris revealed that the authorities found another explosive device in the home. The local fire department and police removed it from the home and safely detonated it after evacuating neighbors living in adjacent homes.

Alarmingly, an investigation reportedly uncovered that the dynamite belonged to the previous homeowners. As of Friday, it remains unclear why the former residents had dynamite in the first place or why they left it behind.

Following the incident, Harris urged the public to call their local fire department if they should find something flame- or fire-related and they don’t know what it is. He also advised them to have back up lighting, preferably “battery-operated, glow stick or hand-crank lighting” to avoid the risk of fires.

[Featured image: Pixabay]