ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) – Fireworks stored at a building that also illicitly sold gasoline exploded on Saturday, killing seven people and injuring four, officials said.

The building also housed video game machines, and five of the dead were children who frequented the video parlor on weekends, local authorities said.

Initial estimates by civil defense officials citing reports by townspeople had placed the death toll as high as 15, but an official statement issued later by the civil defense agency of the southern state of Guerrero gave the lower number.

The blast occurred in the tiny hamlet of Tlacotepec, high in the mountains of southern Guerrero state, about 75 miles north of Acapulco, said Roel Ayala Mata, Guerrero state assistant civil defense director.

The blast collapsed the brick-and-cement building and damaged nearby houses.

Selling gasoline from open drums is a frequent though illegal practice in areas of rural Mexico where the state-owned oil monopoly, Pemex, has yet to open gas stations.

Restrictions on fireworks sales are also flouted, although the volatile mix of a video-game parlor, a gasoline outlet and fireworks sales in the same building was unusual.

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