Fireworks explosion kills at least 28 people
The death toll rose to 28 as firefighters searched burned buildings, a spokesman for the national civil protection agency told Reuters.
Civil protection said the explosion occurred at 6pm in a street market full of fireworks stalls and sparked a blaze that spread to nearby buildings. Firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the blaze. Most of the injuries were from smoke inhalation, the official said. Fireworks accidents in factories, warehouses and stores are common in Mexico, where pyrotechnics are popular around the year and especially on big holidays and at religious festivals. In September 1999, dozens died in a fireworks explosion in the city of Celaya in the central Mexico state of Guanajuato.
