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At least 24 people were killed and 49 wounded, including firefighters and police officers, by several explosions that occurred Thursday in fireworks warehouses in Tultepec, a city north of Mexico City, nearly half of the victims being rescuers trapped
"We have 24 dead, 17 on the spot and 7 in hospitals", including a minor, said the local prosecutor in a statement, which reports a number of 49 wounded transported to different hospitals.
Among the dead are four firefighters, four municipal policemen and a state policeman, state security minister Maribel Cervantes said.
Tultepec, a city famous for its hand-held pyrotechnic devices and home to the country's largest fireworks market, has already been mourned by several similar accidents, with the deadliest in 2016 killing 42 people.
" We are deeply sorry for the deaths of what were killed this morning in (…) Tultepec, including our firefighters and police colleagues who lost their lives by saving many others, "said in a tweet the Red Cross of the State of Mexico, where Tultepec is located
The first explosion took place around 09H30. As police and firefighters arrived on the scene and began to take over the victims, the fire spread to other warehouses, causing further explosions.
Hours after the tragedy, hundreds of Soldiers, police and firefighters were deployed in the suburbs of Xahuento, around the buildings still smoking.
A powerful smell of gunpowder saturated the air. Outside the vast security perimeter were burnt furniture and burnt bricks on the grbad.
"I was having breakfast when I heard a terrible explosion. We came out of the house running and then I saw a huge white cloud in the sky, as if it was going to rain, except that today it rained fire, "said Alondra Perez, 62, who lives on on the other side of the street.
Accidents in the pyrotechnic industry are common in Mexico, particularly in Tultepec, where fireworks traditionally used by Mexicans to celebrate sacred days are made.
A spectacular explosion in the big fireworks market killed 42 people and injured 70 in December 2016. A rocket exploded, causing chain reactions. The market, then crowded before Christmas and New Year, had been transformed into a field of ruins.
More recently, on June 6, an explosion left seven more people dead in the city.
"People They want to continue making fireworks, it's their tradition, "a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity
" But they do not measure the consequences of these tragedies. It's annoying because our firefighters (…) end up losing their lives saving these people. "
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto offered his condolences to the families of the victims on Twitter, and the Minister of Justice State Interior Alejandro Ozuna reported that a "comprehensive check" of all workshop permits would be done.
"We are talking about a way of life and a tradition but we have to send a message to the community and they have to understand that we have to regulate everything has, for their own safety, "he said.
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