29 Dead, 70 Injured in explosion at fireworks market in Mexico city

A massive explosion gutted Mexico’s biggest fireworks market Tuesday, killing at least 29 people and injuring 70, authorities said.

The conflagration, in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec, set off a quick-fire series of multicolored blasts and a sent a vast cloud of smoke billowing over the capital city.

The market had been packed with customers buying pyrotechnics for traditional end-of-year festivities. Christmas and New Year’s parties in many Latin American countries often wrap up with clattering firework blasts.

From a few kilometers (miles) away, the multiple explosions that started at 2:50 pm (2050 GMT) almost looked festive, alight in blue, red and white. They were anything but.

“We recovered 26 bodies at the scene of the incident. And three more have died in the hospital, for a total of 29 dead,” Mexico state’s governor Eruviel Avila said.