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

Undetermined number of people injured, authorities say

Volunteers help to clear rubble from the scene of a fireworks explosion in Santiago Tenango, Puebla, Mexico. EPA

An illegal fireworks shop has blown up south-east of Mexico City, killing two children and four adults, and injuring an undetermined number of people, authorities said on Tuesday.

Photographs of the scene distributed by Mexico’s National Guard showed burnt vehicles and single-storey brick and concrete homes with their walls destroyed.

Ana Lucia Hill, the health secretary for the state of Puebla, said the deaths occurred in the hamlet of Santiago Tenango, south-east of the state capital, which is also named Puebla.

The blast occurred late Monday, and the force of the explosion turned brick walls into heaps of rubble.

It was unclear if 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 given out by Mexico’s defence department.

Such accidents happen regularly in central Mexico around Independence Day on September 15 and the Christmas holidays, when artisanal 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 such blast in recent memory.