SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — A man was burned alive when a home-made bomb went off in Santiago yesterday, law enforcement officials said, the latest in a series of explosions in Chile’s usually safe capital.

The bomb shook the Yungay neighbourhood near the centre of the city, where horrified witnesses screamed for water as the victim collapsed in flames.

The dead man appears to have been handling the bomb when it went off, though it is unclear whether he placed it or was simply a passerby, local prosecutor Claudio Orellana said.

He said 29-year-old Sergio Landskron sustained serious injuries at the scene and died a short time later.

Doctors said he suffered burns on 40 per cent of his body, lost his right hand and had his skull fractured in the explosion.

Police cordoned off the area, where no major damage was reported.

The bombing is the latest in a series of explosions that have left the South American country on edge, in the worst violence to hit the nation in a quarter century.