Mexico probes deadly fireworks blast

This image made from video provided by APTN, shows a view from a drone of smoke billowing from the San Pablito Market, where an explosion ripped through a fireworks market in Tultepec, Mexico, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. Sirens wailed and a heavy scent of gunpowder lingered in the air after the afternoon blast at the market, where most of the fireworks stalls were completely leveled. According to the Mexico state prosecutor there are dozens dead. (Pro Tultepec via APTN)

TULTEPEC, Mexico—Mexico worked Wednesday to identify charred bodies left by an explosion that killed at least 32 people at its biggest fireworks market, as authorities investigated what caused the multi-colored salvo of destruction.

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.

READ: Firecracker blast kills 29 in Mexico

“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.”

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 smoldering 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 hospitalized, many with severe burns covering their bodies.

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

Rocket to blame?

President Enrique Peña 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, and state and federal agents were combing through the remains of the market.

Some witnesses said a rocket went off at one stall, triggering a 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 Agence France-Presse the blast was caused by a “bomb,” a pyrotechnic product the size of a tennis ball that lights up the sky in colorful circles.

State prosecutor Alejandro Gomez said the probe was only just beginning.

“I have no theories for now,” he told Televisa TV. “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 analyze the scene in the coming days.

The market had 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.