Mexico probes deadly fireworks blast

Thirty-one people are known to have died in the blast. (AFP/Josue Solano)

Rescue workers were still searching for bodies - or survivors - in the smoldering wreckage of the San Pablito market in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec.

Dazed family members wandered outside the tightly guarded blast site, seeking information on their relatives.

Concepcion Hernandez said she had no news from her mother, 65, and brother, 29, since the Tuesday afternoon explosion.

"They came to buy fireworks for their store. It was their first time here," she said through tears. "We don't know anything."

Another family was looking for two missing children whose mother and grandmother were killed in the explosion.

At the time of the blast, the market was packed with customers buying pyrotechnics for traditional year-end festivities.

Christmas and New Year parties in many Latin American countries often wrap up with a fireworks free-for-all. But the holiday season took a horrific turn.

"I thought we were all going to die," said Luis Hernandez, 26, at the shop where he has assembled fireworks for the past 12 years.

"People were running. Children were shouting. Lots of burned people were walking around, not knowing what to do. And we didn't know what to do either, because we were afraid the explosions would start again."

Victims are led away from the smouldering ruins of a fireworks market in Mexico City. (AFP/Israel Guttierrez)

APOCALYPTIC SCENES

Other survivors described hellish scenes of people on fire, including children, running from the market as blue, red and white explosions lit up the sky.

Homes and vehicles nearby were also severely damaged.

"I thought my house had collapsed," said resident Artemio Aguilar as he cleaned up firework remains littering his street.

The remnants of the market looked like something from a post-apocalyptic film, with little left standing in the smouldering ruins.

Hundreds of soldiers and police guarded the entrances, the main one still crowned with a giant sign reading "Visit! Open all year. We have full safety measures."

Forensic experts are carrying out DNA testing to identify the badly burned remains, with just 14 victims identified so far, said state government secretary Jose Manzur.

Eight victims were minors, officials said. Forty-seven people injured in the explosion remained hospitalised, many with severe burns covering their bodies.

Three badly burned children were due to be transferred to a specialised hospital in Galveston, Texas.

ROCKET TO BLAME?

President Enrique Pena Nieto observed a minute of silence for the victims during a visit to a hospital in central Mexico.

The attorney general's office has opened an investigation into the cause of the blast. State and federal investigators were combing through the burnt remains of the market.

Some witnesses said a rocket that went off at one seller's stall triggered the chain reaction.

"We cannot verify that theory, since the person working at the stall in question is unfortunately deceased," investigators said in a statement.

Other locals told AFP the blast was caused by a "bomb," a pyrotechnic product the size of a tennis ball that lights up the sky in colourful circles.

State prosecutor Alejandro Gomez said the probe was only just beginning. "I have no theories for now," he said. "Our priority has been to attend to the injured, remove the bodies and deal with the emergency."

He said forensic photographers and explosives experts would analyse the scene as necessary in the coming days.

"Fireworks are a risk. It's inevitable. If a rocket goes off, it ignites the others. Security measures are worthless," said resident Roberto Cortez, a 48-year-old mason.

The market had already been rocked by two explosions in the past: in September 2005 ahead of the Independence Day holiday, and again the following year. Both incidents left dozens of injured, but no fatalities.