Blast at fireworks warehouse kills at least 14

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May 9, 2017 5:06 PM

News reports said 11 of the fatalities were minors but the government did not immediately confirm this.

View of destroyed buildings after a blast at a fireworks warehouse in San Isidro, Mexico on May 9, 2017

An explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Mexico has killed at least 14 people and wounded 22, an official said Tuesday.

The blast occurred Monday night in a rural area of central Puebla state, Diodoro Carrasco, a senior official in the state government, told radio station Cinco Radio.

The explosion came during preparations for a religious festival on May 15, the Puebla state government said.

There are people who live in the building where the fireworks were being stored, it said.

The blast was set off by a rocket that was fired from outside the building and struck the stored pyrotechnic material, the government said.

Last December, 42 people died and 70 were injured in a series of explosions at the country's largest fireworks market, in the town of Tultepec outside Mexico City.

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