26 Dead as Explosion Rips Fireworks Market Outside Mexico City

The chief prosecutor of Mexico State says 26 people have been killed in an explosion that tore through a fireworks market near Mexico City.
Alejandro Gomez is raising the toll from Tuesday’s blast from the previous nine dead, in comments broadcast on local television. The explosion and fire raged through the open-air San Pablito Market in Tultepec, in the State of Mexico, in the afternoon as it was crowded with
shoppers buying fireworks for the holidays.
The blast leveled stalls and left rescue workers to comb through ash and charred metal.
Sirens wailed and a heavy scent of gunpowder lingered in the air after the afternoon blast at the market, where most of the fireworks stalls were completely leveled. The smoking, burned out shells of vehicles ringed the perimeter, and first responders and local residents wearing blue masks over their mouths combed through the rubble and ash. Firefighters hosed down still-smoldering hotspots.

Crescencia Francisco Garcia arrived in the afternoon to buy fireworks and said she was near the middle of the grid of stalls when the explosions began around 2:30 p.m.
“All of a sudden it started booming,” the 41-year-old Mexico City resident said. “I and the others surrounding me all took off running.”
Eventually Garcia was able to find her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren who were waiting in a car just inside the perimeter fence.
The Mexican Red Cross said it sent 10 ambulances with 50 paramedics to the scene.
Puente said some nearby homes were also damaged. The scene remained dangerous and he asked people not to come within 3 miles (5 kilometers) to avoid hampering the emergency response.
Fireworks continued to pop off long after the blast, and Puente added that there was no choice but to let any unexploded fireworks be consumed.
A fire engulfed the same market in 2005, touching off a chain of explosions that leveled hundreds of stalls just ahead of Mexico’s Independence Day. A similar fire at the San Pablito Market also destroyed hundreds of stands in September 2006.
Many in Mexico traditionally celebrate holidays — including Christmas and New Year’s — by setting off noisy firecrackers and rockets.
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Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman reported from Tultepec, Mexico, and Peter Orsi reported from Mexico City.