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A building burns at the site where several pyrotechnic workshops exploded in Tultepec, Mexico on Thursday, July 5, 2018. More than a dozen people were killed and at least 40 wounded when a series explosions exploded in fireworks workshops. city just north of Mexico City. (Moises Castillo / Associated Press)
TULTEPEC, Mexico – First of all, a horrific explosion rocked the city of Tultepec, a place already famous for deadly fireworks, and rescuers hurried to rescue the wounded.
Then, 20 minutes later, a new series of other explosions erupted around them, killing at least four firefighters, two police officers and a civilian defense worker. In all, at least 24 people died and at least 49 were injured on Thursday, according to the Government of the State of Mexico.
"They wanted to save lives without knowing that the same thing was going to happen to them," said Teresa Gonzalez, who heard nearby explosions that began at 9:40 am
Tultepec, a municipality of about 130 000 people about an hour drive north of Mexico City, is famous for its small workshops that produce many fireworks throughout the region. – Guadalupe Romero, another resident of the city, did not stop to say that the pyrotechnic industry of the city should be closed, because he knows so many families in the area.
But he said that, between a nearby propane gas plant and the production of fireworks, "we are sitting on a time bomb."
"Yes, we are afraid," said the minister. old merchant
Luis Felipe Pu Ente, head of Mexico's civil defense agency, said the workshops that exploded were "illegal". But they were located in a specially defined area for the production of fireworks. State and federal officials had promised, after previous disasters, to impose security restrictions in these areas.
Along the road were brightly colored buildings bearing "danger" warnings. There was even a guardhouse inside a chain link fence
The exploding stores apparently had not the required permits issued by the Mexican army to store. explosive materials, but this is the case of many families.
The video images show a massive plume of smoke rising after the explosion. Journalists arriving later found destroyed buildings and burnt land in the middle of a rural area of modest homes and small agricultural plots
Helicopters took the wounded to several local hospitals and more than 300 police officers were rushed to the scene. the locals resisted the regulation, and on Thursday assailed journalists recorded images of the site, destroying their video memory cards.
The security measures in such workshops and markets have been the subject of constant debate in Mexico, where the festivals Small rockets and small bombs, often close to the spectators, and where individuals often launch firecrackers in the streets
"We can not continue to allow this kind of situation," said Mr. Puente to Milenio's information network
. At least 35 people were killed on December 20, 2016, an explosion that razed a fireworks market crowded with vacation buyers, and government officials then promised to rebuild
. Since then, there were several other explosions in fireworks around Tultepec. An accident In March 2017, four people were killed. Another month ago, he killed seven and wounded eight.
Deadly explosions of fireworks have occurred several times elsewhere in Mexico. In 1988, a fireworks in the huge market of La Merced de Mexico killed at least 68, resulting in a ban generally ignored the sale of fireworks in the city
In 1999, 63 people died. An explosion on a market in the city of Veracruz, on the Gulf Coast, killed 29 people in 2002. In 2013, a rocket hit a truckload of fireworks for a religious procession in the city. State of Tlaxcala, killing 17.
Fourteen people died – including 11 children – when a firecracker landed on pyrotechnics stored for a religious ceremony in the city of San Isidro, State of Puebla, in May 2017
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This document may not be published, distributed, rewritten or redistributed.
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