The tragedy occurred inside a house that stored gunpowder for fireworks.
Just a few hours before of the end of the year, an explosion of a clandestine fireworks warehouse resulted in one person dead and 3 injured, including a baby.
One person died and three others were injured, including three children, as a consequence of an explosion that took place in a house in the municipality of Kanasín, Yucatán.
The events occurred in a property located in the Francisco Villa Oriente neighborhood of Kanasín, just 20 minutes away from downtown Mérida.
The municipality of Kanasin borders the municipality of Mérida
“A man was illegally storing gunpowder and pyrotechnics in a house, and the explosion killed one person and injured three more, ” declared Luis Saidén Ojeda, secretary of Public Security of Yucatán.
For more than an hour, firefighters removed of rubble and extinguished the flames on what was left of the house, that collapsed with the explosion.
Dozens of firefighters, state police, agents of the National Guard and Civil Protection arrived at the place, along with staff from the CFE, as the electric power was interrumpted in more than 10 blocks around the perimeter as a security measure to avoid another explosion.
Mr. Roman “N”, stated that he was taking a shower when the explosion happened, he was waiting for his sons to arrive home, to celebrate the New Year in his house that resulted severely affected. Roman was at home with his wife, one of his daughters and six children, three of whom are hospitalized.
The 3 injured, including a baby, were taken to nearby hospitals,and are reported serious.
Another resident of Kanasin declared: “The flames were coming out the house roof, we were trying to put it out with buckets of water, when all of the sudden, a strong explosion occurred.”
The storage of gunpowder and home-made pyrotechnics in warehouses or homes is prohibited in Yucatan.
“Warehouses or trucks loaded with pyrotechnics are illegal in the state. There are no authorized polvorines especially in the city of Mérida, ”said Enrique Alcocer, director of Civil Protection in Yucatan.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
