Mexico fireworks explosion leaves at least 12 dead

May 9, 2017

WDEFAdmin,

(CBS News) — Officials in the Mexican state of Puebla said Tuesday that at least 12 people were killed and 30 more injured by an explosion at a fireworks storage facility.

The newspaper El Universal reported the blast in the town of San Isidro, about 150 miles east of Mexico City, and said emergency officials reported at least five of the dead were minors.

The explosion struck at about 9:30 p.m. on Monday, as residents prepared to celebrate the town’s patron saint’s day.

El Universal cited local officials as reporting someone threw a lit firework that landed inside a building behind the local church where the pyrotechnic materials for the celebration were being stored, causing a blast that seriously damaged the structure.

The tragedy in San Isidro comes four months after fire and explosions tore through a sprawling fireworks market on the outskirts of the Mexican capital, killing 33 people and wounding many more.

That blast leveled the San Pablito market in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec, which had been previously cited for safety violations.