Deaths after a pyrotechnic accident in Mexico go to 24

Tultepec, Mexico – First of all, a horrible explosion Thursday shook the city of Tultepec a place unfortunately known for other deadly pyrotechnic accidents, and the teams from urgency rushed to arrive at the

Then, 20 minutes later, a series of explosions killed at least four firefighters, two police officers and a civil protection officer. In total, at least 24 people died and 49 others were wounded according to the Government of the State of Mexico.

"They wanted to save lives without knowing that the same thing would happen to them," said Teresa González, who heard the explosions that began at 9:40 am.

Tultepec, a municipality of 130,000 inhabitants one hour drive north of Mexico City, is famous for its small workshops where much of the fireworks that are used throughout the region are produced , and for repeated accidents in which they have About 70 people died in less than two years.

Guadalupe Romero, another local resident, has not asked for the closure of the industry because she knows that many families in the area depend on her, but she has stressed the danger of the propane plant and pyrotechnic production

The National Coordinator of Civil Protection, Luis Felipe Puente, said the workshops concerned were "illegal". But they were located in a specific demarcated area. amente for the production of pyrotechnic articles. After previous disasters, state and federal officials have promised to impose security restrictions in these areas.

Along the road there were brightly painted buildings with the warning "danger". There was a sentry box inside a weak fence with chains.

Apparently, companies that exploded would not have the permits issued by the Mexican army to store explosives which happens in many other family businesses in the area .

The video footage showed a huge plume of smoke coming out of the blast zone. Journalists who arrived later found themselves with leftover buildings and scorched earth amidst a core of simple rural homes and small agricultural crops in the countryside.

The wounded were transferred by helicopter to several local hospitals and more than 300 police officers were mobilized in the area.

Extremely protective of their cottage industry, locals are reluctant to accept the regulations and some of them badaulted journalists on Thursday who recorded images in the area, destroying their memory cards.

Safety measures in this type of workshops and on pyrotechnic markets have been the subject of constant debate in Mexico where festivals include small rockets and bombs, often thrown away from the spectators, and whereever can light firecrackers in the street.

At least 35 people died on December 20, 2016 in an explosion that devastated a fireworks market crowded with comparators on Christmas Eve, and government officials promised to rebuild it better than ever.

But since then there have been other explosions in the Tultepec workshops. In March 2017, four people died in one incident and another month killed seven and wounded eight others.

This type of accident is also produced in other parts of the country. In 2002, an explosion in a market in the port of Veracruz killed 29 people; in 1999, 63 people died for the same cause when a detonation hit pyrotechnics illegally warehoused in Celaya and, in 1988, a similar incident caused the death of at least 68 people in the market. La Merced in Mexico.

More recently, in 2013, a rocket struck a truckload of fireworks for a religious procession in the state of Tlaxcala causing 17 deaths. Fourteen people died, including 11 children, when a firecracker fell on fireworks stored for a religious celebration in the city of San Isidro, in the state of Puebla, in May 2017.