A teenager lost his hand and a man was burned on Sunday when their clumsy attempt to make a homemade rocket from a firecracker ended in failure, police said.

A 16-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, who met through an Internet Web site, bought firecrackers at a stationary store in Guri, south of Seoul, to use them as propellant for a small rocket and tried to test it at a park, officials said.

When they put the gunpowder that they had collected from several squibs into a glass container, it exploded and the broken pieces sliced the boy's wrist, officials said.

"Although the firecracker didn't have much power, the strong explosion of the glass caused a lot of damage," a police officer said.

Further investigation is underway to figure out what specifically happened, authorities said. The victims are currently in stable condition and are undergoing treatment in a nearby hospital.

(Yonhap News)