Experts scour the site of fireworks market blast
Officials vow to identify who is responsible for explosions near Mexico City but most recent blasts are the third there in a decade
TULTEPEC // Teams of forensic investigators searched the charred remains of a fireworks market outside Mexico City yesterday after explosions there killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more.
Videos of the blasts at the San Pablito market showed a spectacular flurry of pyrotechnics exploding high into the sky as a large plume of grey smoke billowed out from the site.
“Everything was destroyed, it was very ugly and many bodies were thrown all over the place, including a lot of children. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said 24-year-old housewife Angelica Avila.
Ms Avila spoke outside a nearby hospital as she waited for an update on the health of her brother, a fireworks salesman, who she said was burnt and also suffered a heart attack.
Another survivor, Walter Garduno, said he saw people on fire, including children.
It was the third time in just more than a decade that explo- sions have struck the popular marketplace in Tultepec, home to the country’s best-known fireworks outlets located 32 kilometres north of Mexico City in the adjacent state of Mexico.
Alejandro Gomez, the state attorney general, said the explosions injured 70 people, while another 12 people were listed as missing According to Mr Gomez, some of the dead were so badly burnt that neither their age nor their gender could be immediately determined.
A list of the nine bodies identified so far included a 3-monthold baby boy and a 12-year-old girl. Mr Gomez said seven male minors were among the dead.
Crescencia Francisco Garcia said she was in the middle of the grid of stalls when thunderous explosions began.
She froze, then reflexively looked up at the sky, and then took off running through the smoke once she realised everyone was doing so. As she ran she saw people with burns and cuts, and lots of blood. “Everything was catching fire. Everything was exploding,” she said. “The stones were flying, pieces of brick, everything was flying.”
The federal attorney general’s office opened an investigation, late on Tuesday saying that six separate blasts kicked off the destruction.
Earlier in the day, the director of Tultepec emergency services, Isidro Sanchez, said a lack of adequate safety measures was the likely cause of the blasts.
The vast majority of the market’s 300 stalls were completely destroyed by the explosions, said state official Jose Manzur, adding that the site was inspected by safety officials last month and that no irregularit y w as found.
In late 2005, there was a series of blasts at the same fireworks market days before independence day celebrations, injuring scores of people.
Another explosion gutted the area again almost a year later.
The market was particularly busy on Tuesday as many Mexicans buy fireworks to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Alejandra Pretel, a resident in Tultepec, said she did not realise at first that the explosions were coming from the market.
“We thought it was a nearby fireworks workshop,” she said.
Minutes later, it became evident the market was being destroyed.
“My neighbours said they felt everything shake, but I didn’t realise because I was running away,” said Ms Pretel.
‘ My neighbours said they felt everything shake but I didn’t realise because I was running away Alejandra Pretel Tultepec resident