MEXICO CITY – An errant firecracker landed on a cache of fireworks and touched off a powerful explosion at a home in central Mexico, killing at least 12 people and injuring 30 more, authorities said Tuesday.
The Puebla state government reported that five children were among the fatal victims of Monday night’s blast in the town of San Isidro, Chilchotla municipality.
It said the fireworks had been stored inside a home behind a church ahead of a May 15 religious celebration, and the firecracker that set off the explosion was launched by someone outside. The home was destroyed.
Fireworks are a mainstay of holiday celebrations in Mexico, and accidental blasts are relatively common occurrences often with fatal consequences.
On Dec. 20 a particularly large chain-reaction explosion ripped through a fireworks market in Tultepec, on the northern outskirts of Mexico City, as it was bustling with shoppers stocking up to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, killing several dozen people.
There have been at least two other deadly pyrotechnic blasts in the country since then, including one at a home in Tultepec and another at a fireworks workshop in the central state of Tlaxcala, which borders Puebla.