32 Dead and 69 Wounded in Explosion in Mexican Market

Mexico, Dec 21 (Prensa Latina) At least 32 people were killed and 69 wounded by burns, the result of a series of explosions that occurred yesterday in the traditional pyrotechnic market of San Pablito, the largest of its kind in Mexico.

When the fire and detonation began, some 300 vendors and at least two thousand buyers were in the 4.5 hectare tianguis (fair), located in the municipality of Tultepec, State of Mexico.

Some withnesses said that people ran to try to safe themselves, some fell to the ground and were crashed by the crowd, while metal objects and bricks flew in all directions due to the explosion, informed the newspaper La Jornada.

Brigades of civil protection of the municipalities of Tultitlán, Tlalnepantla, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Cuautitlán and Ecatepec, as well as of the government of the State of Mexico, covered the area in search of injured and dead.

In a press conference, Governor Eruviel Ávila declared mourning in the entity and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, through the state delegation of the Deputy Attorney General's Office for Regional Procedures to Penales and Amparo, initiated an investigation.

Meanwhile, President Enrique Peña Nieto instructed the Ministry of National Defense and Civil Protection to care for the wounded and others affected by the explosion.

In his Twitter account, the Mexican president sent condolences to the relatives of those who perished and wished a fast recovery to those injured.