The victims were at the Formosa Fun Coast water park to attend a music festival called “Color Play Asia.” According to CNN, part of the show included clouds of colored dust shot into the crowd. Festivalgoers were also given bags of the dust to throw on each other during the concerts. There was just one problem: the colored powder, made of cornstarch and dyes, is flammable. When subjected to high temperatures — say, heat from stage lighting or a spark from a cigarette lighter — the powder can burst into flames. The phenomenon is called a dust explosion.

So when the colored powder that was shot out into the crowd ignited, it also ignited the colored powder on the attendees’ skin and clothes, and in their pockets. The mother of a 17-year-old victim described the horrible scene to the Central News Agency of Taiwan: “All of her skin was gone. Her hands were shaking … and she kept calling for me.”

Event organizer Lu Chung-chi and the employee in charge of the stage lighting were arrested after the incident, and later released on bail. Lu made a public apology on his knees, telling reporters, “We shoulder ultimate responsibility [for the disaster].”