Fireworks explosion kills 4, injures 5 in Mexico State

Friday morning blast in the town of San Lorenzo Octeyuco damages four of six buildings on a property where crackers are made and stored

The December 15, 2017 blast evokes sorrowful memories of last year's fireworks explosion (in the picture), which claimed 36 lives and by a tragic coincidence took place on a December. Seen in this 2016 photo is an aerial view of the wreckage of houses at the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, outside the Mexican capital.

A fireworks explosion in Mexico killed four people and sent five more to the hospital days after the country’s holiday season kicked off in earnest.

The State of Mexico said in a statement that the Friday morning blast in the town of San Lorenzo Octeyuco damaged four of six buildings on a property where fireworks were being made and stored. It did not give a cause.

Last years’s deadly blast

Fireworks are a mainstay of holidays in Mexico including Christmas, New Year’s and this week’s celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

On December 20, 2016, a massive, chain-reaction blast ripped through an open-air fireworks market outside Mexico City, killing at least 36.