Explosion at illegal fireworks store near Mexico City kills six, including two children

An illegal fireworks store exploded in southeast Mexico City, killing two children and four adults and injuring an unknown number of people, authorities said Tuesday.

Photographs of the scene distributed by the Mexican National Guard showed burnt-out vehicles and one-story brick and concrete houses with their walls destroyed.

Ana Lucia Hill, Puebla state health secretary, said the deaths occurred in the hamlet of Santiago Tenango, southeast of the state capital, which is also called Puebla.

The blast happened late Monday and the force of the blast turned the brick walls into piles of rubble.

It was unclear whether the structure had been a workshop for making fireworks or a store selling them.

Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa said the business was illegal and unregistered. By law, permits for such facilities are issued by Mexico’s Department of Defense.

Such accidents occur regularly in central Mexico around Independence Day on September 15 and the Christmas holidays, when the craft production and sale of fireworks increases.

A total of 24 people were killed in a 2018 fireworks explosion in the town of Tultepec, just north of Mexico City, in the worst explosion in recent memory.

Updated: December 8, 2021, 4:49 a.m.