One dead, 40 hurt after Mexico candy factory explosion

One person is dead and more than 40 have been injured after a boiler explosion at a candy factory in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on Thursday. Others remain missing. 

The blast at the Dulces Blueberry factory, across the US border from El Paso, Texas, took place in the early afternoon while hundreds were at work making gummy candies and other specialities, according to Agence France-Presse.

"We are searching for people in the debris. We calculate 20 have disappeared," city government spokesman Guillermo Terrazas told AFP. 

The explosion took place on the second story of the factory, reports the Associated Press, causing the floor to collapse on the people working directly below. 

"Since the morning, several co-workers said there was a bad smell, that it smelled of acid and because it was a new area we thought it was normal," said worker Ismael Bouchet to the news agency. 

The factory is located in a free-trade zone of Ciudad Juarez, says the BBC, and is one of a class of facilities commonly known as maquiladoras that are often criticized for both their low wages and their long working hours.