Gas explosion at Mexico children’s hospital, 3 dead

MEXICO CITY (2nd UPDATE) – A huge gas explosion ripped through a children’s hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, January 29, killing at least 3 people and injuring dozens, including 22 children, as the building partly collapsed.

Rescuers toiled through the rubble of the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in the Cuajimalpa borough to look for people who were trapped following the blast, said civil protection chief Fausto Lugo.

Adrian Rubalcava, the president of the Cuajimalpa borough, reported that 4 babies and 3 adults had died, but both Lugo and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said the death toll stood at 3 for now.

Federal civil protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente put the death toll at 4. One of the dead was identified as a woman found in the rubble.

Mancera said 58 people were transferred to other hospitals, many for cuts due to shattered glass. The Red Cross said 9 babies were taken to 3 hospitals in the capital.

Around 40% of the hospital was destroyed, officials said. Some 100 people were believed to be inside the building at the time of the explosion.

Adults with bloodied faces were rushed into ambulances.

Mancera told MVS Radio that the area was evacuated “for safety because a lot of the people are babies in the crib area.” A fire was still going hours later but firefighters had it under control, he said.

The disaster happened when a gas tanker truck blew up outside the building in the morning, officials said.

Mancera said the explosion took place after workers were unable to control a pipe leak, but officials said the cause was still under investigation.

President Enrique Pena Nieto expressed his “sadness and solidarity” with the victims and their families and said soldiers were deployed to help the search for survivors.

Mexico has been hit by other gas explosion tragedies in recent years.

In February 2013, 37 people died in the headquarters of the state energy firm Pemex in Mexico City following a gas build-up in the skyscraper’s basement.

In May 2013, 25 people died when a gas tanker’s container came loose on a highway north of Mexico City, setting nearby homes and cars on fire.

In 2014, 3 people died in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas when a gas leak caused an explosion in a shopping center. – Rappler.com