Gas blast wrecks Mexico children’s hospital, at least two dead

A gas truck blew up outside a maternity hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, killing at least two people, injuring dozens and trapping others after the building crumbled. Rescuers with dogs scoured the rubble of the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in the Cuajimalpa borough for people who were stuck following the huge blast, which rocked the neighborhood. At least two people were killed and more than 60 injured, Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said at a news conference. Around three-quarters of the building collapsed after the blast, which took place at around 7 am after workers were unable to control a pipe leak, Mancera added.

[The zone was evacuated] for safety because a lot of the people are babies in the crib area.

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told MVS Radio

The newborn emergency care area was among those hit, said Adrian Rubalcava, president of Cuajimalpa borough. He said 100 people were in the building at the time of the tragedy. The truck’s three operators were detained, and two of them were hospitalized, Mancera said. Their employer was identified as Nieto Express, which has serviced the city since 2007. 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 that same year, 25 people also died when a gas tanker’s container came loose on a highway north of Mexico City, setting nearby homes and cars on fire.

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