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Mexico hotel blast blamed on swamp gas
Source: Agencies |
November 16, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A POWERFUL explosion that killed five Canadian tourists and two Mexican workers at a resort hotel on Mexico's Riviera Maya on Sunday was apparently caused by build up of gas from a nearby swamp.
The blast at the 676-room hotel Grand Riviera Princess hotel in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, blew out windows and ceiling panels, and hurled paving stones and chunks of metal 45 meters onto the lawn of the?compound.
Francisco Alor, attorney general of Quintana Roo, the state where the resort is located, said five Canadian tourists were killed and two others were in critical condition. A total of 12 people are said to have been injured in Sunday's explosion.
Alor did not identify the victims, but Playa del Carmen Civil Defense director Jesus Puc said the fatalities included a nine-year-old boy.
Alor added that the initial investigations suggest the gas that exploded beneath the building was apparently not for cooking, but rather a mix of gases from a nearby swamp.
Pete Travers, a tourist from Ontario, Canada, recalled hearing a huge crash before he went down for breakfast. He stepped into the hallway to find people running from the blast site as word of an explosion rippled across the resort.
"There was quite a lot of chaos," Travers said. He and a few other?guests rushed to grab deck chairs from the pool area to use as makeshift?stretchers.
The blast at the 676-room hotel Grand Riviera Princess hotel in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, blew out windows and ceiling panels, and hurled paving stones and chunks of metal 45 meters onto the lawn of the?compound.
Francisco Alor, attorney general of Quintana Roo, the state where the resort is located, said five Canadian tourists were killed and two others were in critical condition. A total of 12 people are said to have been injured in Sunday's explosion.
Alor did not identify the victims, but Playa del Carmen Civil Defense director Jesus Puc said the fatalities included a nine-year-old boy.
Alor added that the initial investigations suggest the gas that exploded beneath the building was apparently not for cooking, but rather a mix of gases from a nearby swamp.
Pete Travers, a tourist from Ontario, Canada, recalled hearing a huge crash before he went down for breakfast. He stepped into the hallway to find people running from the blast site as word of an explosion rippled across the resort.
"There was quite a lot of chaos," Travers said. He and a few other?guests rushed to grab deck chairs from the pool area to use as makeshift?stretchers.
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