A series of explosions triggered inside buildings housing black market fireworks workshops have killed twenty-four people and injured at least 49 in Mexico.
Four buildings were destroyed by the blasts in the town of Tulepec, 20 miles from Mexico City.
Four firefighters and two police officers died after rushing to the scene as video shot from a nearby highway showed a towering plume of smoke rising into the air.
The government of the state of Mexico said in a statement that eight people from Tultepec were killed, along with the six emergency personnel and two others who have not yet been identified.
The death toll was then later raised to 24 but there was no further clarification of who the victims were.
The first explosion occurred at 9.40am and emergency services, including 300 police, and local residents rushed to the scene to help rescue people.
At 10am three more powerful explosions occurred, killing some of those who had come to help, a government statement said.
Mexico State civil defence said 17 people died at the scene.
Helicopters took the wounded to several local hospitals, where a further seven people died.
Luis Felipe Puente, head of Mexico's civil defence agency, said there were four blasts in total and the explosions started at an unauthorised, clandestine workshop and spread as flammable material shot into the air.
He said the dead also apparently included one minor and a civil defence worker.
"The problem was that after the first explosion, people went running to help, and when the second explosion occurred, these people who ran to help were killed," Mr Puente told the Milenio news network.
Many residents in the town make a living by fabricating and selling homemade fireworks, and explosions are a regular occurrence.
But authorities have been unable to enforce safety regulations and registration requirements.
"We cannot continue to allow this kind of situation," Mr Puente said.
In June, seven people were killed and eight injured in a blast in Tultepec.
In December 2016, a massive fire at an open-air fireworks market crowded with holiday shoppers killed several dozen people.
Agencies contributed to this report
