At least 10 people killed following fireworks explosion at festival in Mexico (video)

At least 10 people killed in fireworks explosion at festival in Mexico (video)

At least 10 people died and more than 60 others were injured as a result of a fireworks explosion at a festival held on September 5 in the village of Santa María Canchesda in the State of Mexico, Mexico.

Videos circulating on social networks show festival participants carrying a straw bull figure with fireworks shooting out from inside it. According to AFP, this celebration was part of a local ritual.

The fireworks shooting from the bull caused a fire in a large warehouse where fireworks were stored in the village church. Following the explosion, walls collapsed and a fire broke out in the town square. According to local media, people were trapped under the debris of the collapsed walls.

The diocese of the neighboring municipality of Atlacomulco reported that two priests were injured, but their lives are not in danger.

"We pray together for the victims, their families and loved ones, as well as for the injured and all those experiencing grief and anxiety today," the diocese said in a statement on social networks.

The Attorney General's Office of Mexico announced that the causes of the explosion have not yet been determined and an investigation has been launched. Fatal incidents involving fireworks have been recorded in Mexico before.

For example, in July 2018, 24 people were killed in an explosion at a fireworks factory in the city of Tultepec. Two years prior to that, 42 people lost their lives following a fireworks explosion at a market in the same city.

The fireworks were set off on the occasion of US Independence Day, and there were about 60 people on board the plane. No one was injured as a result of the incident.