19 killed in Mexico fireworks explosions
Published at
Adrian Ledezma, CNN
(CNN) — At least 19 people were killed in at least two fireworks explosions Thursday in Tultepec, a town outside Mexico City where similar deadly incidents have happened before.
Forty others were injured in the explosions, said Luis Felipe Puente, civil protection coordinator of the secretary of the interior.
The explosions occurred at pyrotechnics workshops in the La Saucera area of Tultepec, according to a statement by the federal government. The city, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the capital, bills itself as the country’s fireworks capital.
Emergency teams were responding to the call for the first explosion when a second explosion occurred, resulting in the deaths and injuries of members of those teams.
Firefighters, police officers and civilians were among those killed, the government said.
About three dozen people were killed in the city’s San Pablito market in 2016. An explosion at the same fireworks market in 2005 injured a large number of people and caused extensive damage.
The city has a 200-year tradition of manufacturing pyrotechnics, and is host to a huge fireworks festival every year that’s drawn international attention.