Blast shreds Mexico hospital

3 dead, at least 73 hurt in fueling accident at maternity hub

Rescuers and emergency workers comb the rubble Thursday of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City after a gas delivery truck sprang a leak and exploded outside the hospital kitchen, leaving at least one woman and one infant dead, and more than 60 people injured.
Rescuers and emergency workers comb the rubble Thursday of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City after a gas delivery truck sprang a leak and exploded outside the hospital kitchen, leaving at least one woman and one infant dead, and more than 60 people injured.

MEXICO CITY -- Injured and bleeding, mothers carrying infants fled from a maternity hospital shattered by a powerful gas explosion on Thursday, and rescuers with sledgehammers broke through fallen concrete to hunt for others who may have been trapped.

photo

AP

Rescue workers search the rubble Thursday after a morning gas explosion at a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City.

A nurse and a baby died when a gas refueling truck at the hospital exploded, and a second infant died Thursday night, Mexico City authorities said. At least 73 people were injured in the blast that collapsed about three-fourths of the hospital, but by late in the day rescuers determined no one was left trapped in the rubble.

Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said some of the injured were about to be released from area hospitals, including some mothers who suffered injuries while using their bodies to shield their children.

A 25-year-old nurse and a newborn between 2 and 3 weeks old died at the scene. and another infant died several hours later at another pediatric hospital, said Armando Ahued, the city's health secretary. He had said earlier that 21 babies in all had been injured, and nine of those and seven adults were in serious condition after being rushed to other hospitals.

Felicitas Hernandez, 35, wept as she frantically questioned people outside the mostly collapsed building, hoping for word of her month-old baby, who had been hospitalized since birth with respiratory problems.

"They wouldn't let me sleep with him," said Hernandez, who said she had come to the city-run Maternity and Children's Hospital of Cuajimalpa because she had no money. Later, authorities told her to check at another hospital where she reported finding her baby uninjured.

The explosion occurred at 7:05 a.m. CST when the tanker was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. Witnesses said the tanker workers struggled frantically for 15 or 20 minutes to repair the leak while a large cloud of gas formed.

"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.

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

Workers on the truck yelled: "Call the firefighters, call the firefighters!" said anesthesiologist Agustin Herrera, 66. People started to evacuate the hospital shortly before the explosion.

Herrera saw injured mothers walking out carrying babies. He said there had been nine babies in the 35-bed hospital's nursery, one in very serious condition before the explosion.

"We avoided a much bigger tragedy because the oxygen tanks right beside [the area] didn't explode," Herrera said. The most affected parts of the hospital were the neonatology, reception and emergency reception units, he added.

Miguel Angel Garcia waited outside Hospital ABC-Santa Fe to see his wife and new baby daughter, who had been moved there.

Garcia, 22, had been driving a bus when he heard about the explosion at the hospital where his wife had given birth to their second child the day before. He dropped off his passengers, then his bus and took off for the hospital.

"When I arrived and saw it in pieces, I thought the worst," Garcia said. He waited for an hour before authorities told him his wife and daughter had been taken to the Santa Fe hospital. A nurse there told him both were fine, but he hadn't been allowed to see them yet.

As the day wore on, people arrived offering diapers and baby formula. There was an hour-long wait to donate blood.

The gas truck driver and two other employees of the Express Nieto company were hospitalized but were in custody, Mancera said. He said the company has provided gas to all the city's public hospitals since 2007.

Margarita Palma of Amexgas, a trade association of Mexico's propane distributors, said 80 percent of Mexicans use propane rather than natural gas delivered by mains. Liquefied propane, which is highly explosive, is distributed to homes and businesses either by trucks or in cylinders, she said.

"The truck must have had some failure, the hose, and that's what caused the explosion," Mancera said.

He said the fire continued burning because firefighters recommended that they allow the truck's remaining gas to burn off. He said there was no risk of another explosion.

Ismael Garcia, 27, who lives a block from the hospital, said "there was a super explosion and everything caught on fire."

Garcia ran to the hospital and said he and others made their way to the nursery.

"Fortunately, we were able to get eight babies out," he said.

Rafael Gonzalez of the Red Cross said one 27-year-old man arrived at the agency's hospital with burns over 90 percent of his body, and he was transferred to another hospital.

Pope Francis said through his official Twitter account that he was praying for the victims and their families.

The hospital, located in a middle-class neighborhood, is next to a school.

Information for this article was contributed by Peter Orsi, Katherine Corcoran, Emilo Lugo and Christopher Sherman of The Associated Press.

A Section on 01/30/2015

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