At least 20 people have died in Venezuela after a massive fire engulfed a shopping district in the southeastern city of San Felix, media reports said Tuesday, according to DPA. The fire broke out late Monday in a shop and quickly spread to surrounding premises. Firefighters finally extinguished the flames early Tuesday afternoon. At least two of the dead were reported to be children. Another twenty people were seriously injured. A civil defence spokesman said the death toll could rise as rescue workers continued to search the scene. Other officials said 20 bodies had already been recovered. The fire broke out in a general goods store which sold fireworks although the cause of the fire remained unclear. At least six shops in the open air Marquez shopping mall were destroyed by the blaze along with several vehicles, Venezuela's Union Radio reported. One eyewitness told the radio station she heard a loud explosion just before the flame broke out, and media reports also said there was an explosion.
