Buenos Aires -- Argentine
Five dead

2004 -- At least five people have been killed in an explosion in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.      The blast occurred in a shop suspected of illegally selling fireworks.

At least 15 people were injured and part of the surrounding block collapsed after the blast, in the suburb of Florencio Varela.     Police said the power of the explosion, and the smell of fireworks, led them to believe the shop had contained an illegal supply.

Local media reports say a further five people are missing.     Firemen and police were on the scene shortly after the two-storey building exploded and searched through the rubble by hand and with bulldozers.    

Fireworks are a big part of Argentina's festive celebrations, and each year police find illegal firework factories with little or no safety precautions.

Florencio Varela is situated some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Buenos Aires.    "There was a smell of fireworks and the power of the explosion leads me to believe it was fireworks," Florencio Varela Mayor, Julio Pereyra, told local radio.

 

-- Five people died, five were missing and 28 were hurt when illegal fireworks exploded at a supermarket in Florencia Varela, a town on the southern edge of the Argentine capital, police and hospital sources said.

A police spokesman at the scene said the missing including a two-year-old girl and supermarket employees. A hospital worker said some of casualties had serious burns.

Rescue personnel worked furiously to remove rubble in an effort to locate the missing persons.

-- Last week the explosion of another cache of fireworks in the southern suburb of Wilde left one dead and four injured. Another 374 residents of the capital were treated for injuries from fireworks during end-of-year festivities.