Explosion in Mexico City building leaves at least 22 injured

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL  – An explosion in a residential building in Mexico City left at least 22 injured, and 6 of them are hospitalized, authorities said Monday.

“I am heading to the site of the explosion on Coyoacan Avenue. So far, the secretary of Integral Risk Management and Civil Protection (Myriam Urzúa) who is on-site informs me that it was an explosion due to gas leak, 22 injured of which 4 were taken to hospital,” reported in a brief message on Twitter the head of the Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum.

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From the incident scene and around 12.20 local time (17.20 GMT), Sheinbaum pointed out that the explosion was due to “accumulation” of LP gas and left 22 injured, and raised from four to six the number of people transferred to hospitals.

One of the injured, she added, is in serious condition due to the burns suffered, while the rest are evolving favorably.

Two other residents of the building had covid-19 and were taken to a medical center.

The building had 63 apartments divided into two adjoining towers.

While the Mayor of Benito Juarez, Santiago Taboada, informed in the same press conference that a structural report of the building would be carried out and highlighted that, in a preliminary review, there was only some “material in the surrounding properties damages”.

The accident took place in the Xoco neighborhood of the Benito Juarez district, in the south of the capital.

The explosion damaged at least 15 homes in this building, with most of its windows shattered, and was heard in several surrounding streets due to the power of the explosion.

Residents of the building were evacuated.

“Everything exploded, the glass, the windows, everything,” Aremy, a resident of the building, told local media.