Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(TULTEPEC, Mexico) — The death toll from an explosion at a Mexican fireworks market Tuesday has risen to 32, according to government officials.
Jose Manzur, general secretary of the State of Mexico government, said 26 people died at the site — the San Pablito Market in Tultepec — and another six people died at the hospital. More than 70 people were injured in blasts, and 47 remained in the hospital as of Wednesday afternoon.
Two minors — a 13-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl — were transferred to hospitals in Galveston, Texas for treatment, according to Roberto Lopez, director of Fundación Michou y Mau Para Ninos Quemados. Three more minors, ages 16, 13 and 6, will be transferred to Galveston when their conditions are stable enough for them to be moved, Lopez said.
On Wednesday, investigators continued to comb through the wreckage of homes destroyed in the explosion.
Last week, the city of Tultepec, which is north of Mexico City, released a statement calking the market “among the safest fireworks markets in Latin America.
Dramatic video showed thick clouds of smoke billowing form the scene as a series of fireworks appeared to go off at once.
It was not immediately clear how the explosion started.
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