80 hurt in fireworks inferno
2005-09-15 23:17
Mexico City - A fire destroyed Mexico's most-famous fireworks market Thursday, setting off a chain of explosions that destroyed hundreds of open-air stands in a town northeast of Mexico City just ahead of Mexico's Independence Day celebrations.
Mexico state civil defence director Roberto Vazquez said dozens of people were injured.
Television images showed a tall plume of gray smoke rising from a broad, charred swath of gutted market stalls in Tultepec, a few kilometres northeast of Mexico City.
Vazquez said there were reports someone had thrown a lit firecracker inside the market and it set off a chain of explosions that destroyed as many as 300 stands covering about 4 000m² in the San Pablito market.
A large percentage of Tultepec's people earn their livings from making and selling fireworks.
The explosion occurred hours before one of Mexico's biggest annual fireworks displays, the midnight Independence Day festivities that are celebrated with rockets and explosives throughout the country.
The Televisa television network said the initial blast occurred about 13:45. Radio reporters said they could still hear periodic explosions from the scene more than an hour later.
- AP