Mexico City – A series of explosions at a market for pyrotechnics in Mexico killed at least 26 people and injured at least 70, officials said Tuesday.
Local prosecutor Alejandro Gomez gave the death toll in televised comments, local media reported. Federal police had earlier reported that at least 70 were injured.
Firefighters are still trying to extinguish the fire that followed the explosion Tuesday afternoon. Blasts of flames and other pyrotechnics could be seen under a large cloud of smoke rising from the area in a video of the explosions posted on Twitter.
Photo taken by a mobile device on Dec. 20, 2016 shows the site of a blast at the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, Mexico. At least 26 people were killed and 70 people were injured in an explosion Tuesday at the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, a town in the State of Mexico. (Credit Image: © Str/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)
The blast damaged nearby homes, a civil protection coordinator told the Telegraph newspaper. Soldiers evacuated the buildings around the market, the newspaper Excelsior reported.
The explosion in Tultepec, in the state of Mexico, took place at the San Pablito market, which has about 300 vendors and is said to be the largest in Mexico, according to local reports.
As many as 2,000 visitors and buyers might have been at the market on Tuesday, according to Mexican news outlet El Universal.
The market had other fires in 2005 and 2006, each destroying hundreds of stalls, according to El Universal.
Fireworks are a popular way to celebrate Christmas in Mexico.
-dpa
