Explosion in Mexico fireworks market

An explosion has ripped through Mexico's best-known fireworks market on the northern outskirts of the capital injuring at least 50 persons.

Images broadcast by Milenio TV on Tuesday afternoon show a huge plume of smoke billowing into the sky above the open-air San Pablito Market in Tultepec, in the State of Mexico. There was no immediate official word on possible injuries. In 2005, a fire engulfed the same market, touching off a chain of explosions that leveled hundreds of stalls just ahead of Mexico's Independence Day. A similar fire at the San Pablito Market also destroyed hundreds of stands in September 2006. Many in Mexico traditionally celebrate holidays — including Christmas and New Year's — by setting off noisy firecrackers and rockets.