A Mexican village specializing in making fireworks that was devastated by a deadly pyrotechnic explosion moved to put the tragedy behind it with a spectacular fiery fiesta.
Forty-two people died and 70 were injured when tonnes of fireworks ignited at a market in the village Tultepec, north of Mexico City a few days before Christmas last year.
But on Wednesday night the village returned to its flamboyant but risky ways, marking the Catholic festival of San Juan de Dios, with thousands of revelers running among exploding fireworks and hundreds of giant burning paper bulls.
Rockets screamed and acrid white smoke filled the air as revelers yelled "Fire, fire!"
Firefighters, ambulances and security forces were out in force.
Known as the "firework capital of Mexico," the village has specialized in making explosive powder since the 19th century.
Local authorities say it exports $4 million worth of fireworks a year to Central America and the United States.
"It's worth the risk of dying for the beauty of the craft," one local powder maker, Uriel Gonzalez, 18, told AFP.
A Mexican village specializing in making fireworks that was devastated by a deadly pyrotechnic explosion moved to put the tragedy behind it with a spectacular fiery fiesta.
Forty-two people died and 70 were injured when tonnes of fireworks ignited at a market in the village Tultepec, north of Mexico City a few days before Christmas last year.
But on Wednesday night the village returned to its flamboyant but risky ways, marking the Catholic festival of San Juan de Dios, with thousands of revelers running among exploding fireworks and hundreds of giant burning paper bulls.
Rockets screamed and acrid white smoke filled the air as revelers yelled “Fire, fire!”
Firefighters, ambulances and security forces were out in force.
Known as the “firework capital of Mexico,” the village has specialized in making explosive powder since the 19th century.
Local authorities say it exports $4 million worth of fireworks a year to Central America and the United States.
“It’s worth the risk of dying for the beauty of the craft,” one local powder maker, Uriel Gonzalez, 18, told AFP.
