An enormous fire at Central America's largest open-air market Monday killed 15 people, including three minors, and sent up columns of smoke visible six miles away. Witnesses said the blaze was sparked by a lit cigarette, the Associated Press reported. The fire broke out in an area of illegal fireworks stands set up temporarily near a section of the permanent market where corn and beans are sold year-round, said fire department spokesman Ricardo Lemus, who confirmed the number of deaths. He did not have the ages of the minors, all of whom worked in the permanent market. The blaze quickly destroyed about 40 of the permanent market's hundreds of shops, which cover a 5- to 8-square-kilometer (2- to 3-square-mile) area.
