Deadly Fire Ravages Store in Mexico, Leaving 23 Fatalities

At least 23 people died when an explosion triggered a massive fire inside a department store in Hermosillo, the capital of Mexico's northern Sonora state. The blast happened Saturday afternoon in the city center, trapping several people inside as flames spread rapidly through the building and reached nearby vehicles.

Witnesses described how quickly the fire consumed the multi-story department store. The flames moved so fast that people couldn't escape, and the fire even spread to cars parked outside the building.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene to search for survivors and pull people from the wreckage. They took the injured to local hospitals, though authorities haven't released details about how many people were hurt or their conditions.

Early investigations point to a faulty electrical transformer as the likely cause. Authorities say smoke from the broken transformer may have sparked the explosion and fire. Sonora officials have ruled out terrorism, treating this as an industrial accident.

This incident highlights ongoing safety concerns in Mexico's commercial buildings, where electrical infrastructure problems have caused similar tragedies before. Many older buildings in Mexican cities still use aging electrical systems that can fail without warning.

Hermosillo, home to about 900,000 people, serves as a major commercial hub near the U.S. border. The city's central shopping district, where this happened, draws thousands of people daily for business and shopping.