Ten Dead, 81 Injured in Mexico Church Blast: Why Was the Gunpowder Stored Steps From the Altar?

Mexican State Police officers inspect the site of a fireworks blast in Santa Maria Canchesda, Mexico state, Mexico on September 6, 2026. A fireworks explosion at a church while hundreds of people were celebrating a patron saint's festival in Mexico killed at least 10 people and left more than 60 injured, authorities reported September 6, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Ramses MERCADO / AFP via Getty Images)

• Ten people died and at least 81 were injured when fireworks stored beside a church in Temascalcingo, State of Mexico, detonated during a patron saint festival Saturday night.
• Injury counts vary wildly by outlet —64 versus 81— and there's a concrete reason almost no coverage explained.
• The blast reopens a decade-old question in Mexico: why rural churches keep storing tons of explosives inches from the families who come to pray.

The blast landed just as the rosary was wrapping up. It was roughly 9 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, when a storage shed packed with fireworks next to the Nuestra Señora de la Luz parish, in the town of Santa María Canchesdá, municipality of Temascalcingo, tore through the most anticipated celebration of the year. Within seconds, the churchyard where hundreds of families were waiting for the fireworks tower was swallowed by smoke, rubble and screams. The State of Mexico government confirmed 10 dead and 81 injured earlier today.