Participants of the Bun Bang Fai festival prepare their rocket in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016. The festival marks the beginning of the wet season and is meant to encourage the coming rains. The highlight of the celebration is a homemade rocket competition where participants make varying size black powder bottle rockets and set them off on makeshift platforms. The contest aims to see which rocket can launch the farthest, this time the goal was to make it over a nearby mountain.

Participants of the Bun Bang Fai festival cling onto their own projectile as the rocket on the platform next to theirs accidentally explodes in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016. Bun Bang Fai festival is a traditional Laotian and Thai celebration, the highlight of which is the homemade rocket competition. Over the years a number of people have been injured in these contests due to the unstable nature of the projectiles and relaxed regulations regarding their ignition.

Fiery chunks of rocket rain down on the Nam Song River after a rocket misfires and explodes during the Bun Bang Fai festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A man splices a fuse together for his homemade rocket during Bun Bang Fai in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

One team readies their rocket before placing it on the platform during the Bun Bang Fai festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A boy drags his broken bottle rocket behind him during the early stages of preparation for the festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A man selling smaller rockets to children wraps a fuse in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A man sells smaller bottle rockets to children at the Bun Bang Fai festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

Kids watch from a distance as a failed rocket falls off the platform and smokes next to the river in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

Local kids take refuge from the heat by submerging themselves in the shallow river next to the rocket platforms at Bun Bang Fai in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A man carries a painted water buffalo skull, one of the many props and costumes used by locals during the celebration of Bun Bang Fai in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A girl kicks rocks at a boy escaping the heat in the river the Bun Bang Fai festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

A team rejoices after a successful launch of their black powder bottle rocket at the Bun Bang Fai festival in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

Local officials shield themselves against the sun while tracing a launched rocket across the sky in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.

One rocket seemingly reaches the other side of the mountain, signifying the promise of a prosperous rainy season and subsequent bountiful harvest for the town.