Sputnik International Photo MEXICO CITY — Two explosions on Thursday at a small fireworks factory in central Mexico left at least 19 people dead, including firefighters and police officers, and another 40 people injured, local authorities said.

The blasts occurred at a facility in Tultepec, a town in central Mexico State known for its fireworks production.

The state Civil Protection agency confirmed the number of the dead, originally believed to have been 17, and the state Public Security Secretariat reported at least six of the fatal victims were firefighters or police officers attending to the first blast when the second occurred.

Among the injured were also a police officer and a firefighter, who were airlifted to hospitals in the state capital Toluca, the state government said in a statement. The rest of the wounded were taken to different area hospitals.

In a Twitter post, Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto regretted “the loss of lives in the Tultepec explosion,” and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

The blasts ripped through a factory in La Saucera, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Tultepec, with the first explosion occurring around 9:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT). The second explosion occurred minutes later, after police and rescue workers had arrived to help the victims. Xinhua