Mexico fireworks blast: ‘People came running out on fire’

People search amid the debris. Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP Photo

Forensic investigators pour over the charred remains of the fireworks market. Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP Photo

Firefighters, rescuers and survivors search for bodies. 53 people remained missing. Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP Photo

The vast majority of the market’s stalls were completely destroyed by the explosions. EPA

San Pablito market is Mexico’s biggest fireworks market. Mexican Red Cross / EPA

Firefighters and rescue workers walk through the scorched ground. Eduardo Verdugo / AP Photo

It was the third time in just over a decade that explosions struck the marketplace. Israel Gutierrez / AFP Photo

TULTEPEC // Teams of forensic investigators pored over the charred remains of a fireworks market outside Mexico City yesterday after a series of blasts there killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more.

Videos of the blasts at the San Pablito market showed a spectacular flurry of pyrotechnics exploding high into the sky, like rockets in a war zone, as a massive plume of charcoal-grey smoke billowed out from the site.

“Everything was destroyed, it was very ugly and many bodies were thrown all over the place, including a lot of children. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said 24-year-old housewife Angelica Avila as tears ran down her face.

Ms Avila spoke outside a nearby hospital as she waited for an update on the health of her brother, a fireworks salesman, who she said was burnt and also suffered a heart attack.

Another survivor, Walter Garduno, said he saw people on fire, including children.

It was the third time in just over a decade that explosions have struck the popular marketplace in Tultepec, home to the country’s best-known fireworks shopping and located about 32 kilometres north of Mexico City in the adjacent state of Mexico.

Eruviel Avila, the state’s governor, said the explosions injured at least 72 people while another 53 remained missing.

“We are going to identify who is responsible,” he vowed.

According to Mexico state chief prosecutor Alejandro Gomezm some of the dead were so badly burnt that neither their age nor their gender could be immediately determined. A list of the nine bodies identified so far included a 3-month-old baby boy and a 12-year-old girl. Mr Gomez said seven male minors were among the dead.

Survivor Crescencia Francisco Garcia said she was in the middle of the grid of stalls when thunderous explosions began. She froze, reflexively looked up at the sky and then took off running through the smoke once she realised everyone was doing so. As she ran she saw people with burns and cuts, and lots of blood.

“Everything was catching fire. Everything was exploding,” she said. “The stones were flying, pieces of brick, everything was flying.”

The federal attorney general’s office opened an investigation, saying late on Tuesday that six separate blasts kicked off the destruction.

Earlier in the day, the director of Tultepec emergency services, Isidro Sanchez, said a lack of adequate safety measures was the likely cause of the blasts.

The vast majority of the market’s 300 stalls were completely destroyed by the explosions, said state official Jose Manzur, adding that the site was inspected by safety officials just last month and that no irregularities were found.

In late 2005, explosions struck the same fireworks market just days before independence day celebrations, injuring scores of people.

Another explosion gutted the area again almost a year later.

The market was particularly busy on Tuesday as many Mexicans buy fireworks to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Alejandra Pretel, a resident in Tultepec, said she didn’t realise at first that the explosions were coming from the market.

“We thought it was a nearby fireworks workshop,” she said.

Minutes later, it became evident the market was being destroyed.

“My neighbours said they felt everything shake,” she said, “but I didn’t realise because I was running away.”

* Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse