LIMA (Peru), Dec 30: A fireworks explosion set off a huge blaze in central Lima late on Saturday, killing at least 227 people and turning a busy shopping street into a hellish scene of blackened corpses and wreckage.

Bodies littered the city centre. Some were burned to the bone, others were still dressed but with arms thrown up as if to fend off the flames.

Other victims, including small, unrecognizable corpses of children, were still strewn inside burned shops that once sold dolls, paint, or playing cards.

The chief firefighter said the “chain reaction” blaze raged for several hours before being contained.

Even after the blaze was controlled, smoke swirled and the smell of burning flesh wafted in the night air.

Authorities have warned the number of dead could rise as firefighters began the grim task of recovering bodies of people trapped in buildings. Health Minister Luis Solari said over one hundred people had been taken to hospitals.

The fire was concentrated around a busy commercial intersection in downtown Lima, burning a score of surrounding buildings, including some homes, and leaving the blackened and deformed hulls of at least a dozen cars on the narrow street.

Witnesses said the blaze began when a fireworks merchant lit a sample of his wares to show an interested customer — as throngs of shoppers stocked up in preparation for New Year’s festivities — on a narrow street outside the shopping area.

Firefighters, however, said the ill-fated demonstration took place inside a fireworks store.

“This was a very difficult fire to work,” a firefighter said, adding there had been eight separate blazes on four blocks.

‘NIGHTMARE’: Firefighters said they had pulled at least two people from the blaze alive. Many family members searched through seared, unrecognizable bodies after the blaze in search of relatives.