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12/22/2024 07:18:49 pm

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Mexico Hospital Blast Kills 2, Scores Injured

mexico hospital blast

(Photo : Reuters) Rescue workers are seen at the site of an explosion at a maternity hospital in Mexico City, January 29, 2015.

Injured mothers carrying crying infants, shattered glass and concrete walls turned to dust.  These are just some of the scenes at a children's hospital in Cuajimalpa, Mexico that was ripped by a powerful gas explosion Thursday.

Officials said at least two people were killed - a 25-year old woman and a newborn.  Seventy three people were hurt, including 21 babies.

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Rescue workers scrambled to find more survivors possibly trapped under the rubble.  The explosion was so huge that much of the building was destroyed. 

The explosion happened at about 7:00 am, when a tanker was delivering gas to the hospital kitchen.  The hose broke and gas started to leak.  Witnesses said, tanker workers struggled for about 15-20 minutes to repair the leak.  

"The hose broke. The two gas workers tried to stop it, but they were very nervous. They yelled for people to get out," said Laura Diaz Pacheco, a laboratory technician.

A large gas cloud had formed, which prompted the workers to holler out.

"Call the firefighters, call the firefighters!" said anesthesiologist Agustin Herrera, recalling how workers shouted for help. 

"Everyone's initial reaction was to go inside, away from the gas," Pacheco said. "Maybe as many as 10 of us were able to get out ... The rest stayed inside," she added.

A devastating explosion that sent up an enormous fireball rocked the building, just as people were starting to evacuate.

Officials said 110 people were inside the 35-bed hospital when the truck blew up.

The Neonatology, reception and emergency reception units were the worst hit areas of the hospital.

Herrera said a much bigger tragedy was avoided as the oxygen tanks right beside the area didn't explode.

Thirty-five-year-old Felicitas Hernandez wept as she begged for information on her one month-old baby, who was being treated for respiratory problems.

She was later told that her baby was at another hospital uninjured.

Margarita Palma, a gas distributor, said 80 percent of Mexicans use propane rather than natural gas. Liquified propane, which is highly explosive, is transported to homes and businesses either by trucks or in cylinders. 

Injured patients were taken to Hospital ABC, the nearest facility to the explosion site.

The truck driver and two other employees of the Express Nieto gas company were hospitalized, but are in police custody.  The company has been supplying gas to all of Cuajimalpa's public hospitals since 2007.

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