E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe death toll has risen to 32 in Mexico City after an explosion blasted the lower floors of a skyscraper housing the headquarters of state oil monopoly Pemex. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
The death toll from a powerful explosion in the Mexico City skyscraper complex housing the offices of state oil monopoly Pemex rose to at least 33, company and government officials said Friday.
Twenty men and 12 women were killed, the company said — while 121 were injured, 52 of whom remain in hospital.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto arrived at the Pemex administration complex by helicopter Thursday night to supervise rescue operations, Pemex and the news agency La Prensa reported. Hundreds of Mexican military forces were sent to the complex to "preserve security," officials told newspaper El Universal.
Rescue crews had searched most of the area damaged by the blast by Friday afternoon, said Attorney General Jesus Murillo said. But he added that survivors or more victims could still be found in the most unstable parts, which had not yet been fully checked.
Emilio Lozoya Austin, director general of Pemex, which is short for Petrõleos Mexicanos, told Reuters Friday the the company was "working with the best teams in Mexico and from overseas" to find the cause of the explosion.
He was flying home from a business trip to Asia when the blast occured. He said he extended his condolences "to all the families of Pemex workers who have lost their loved ones."
The explosion took place in the basement garage of the auxiliary building, next to the company's 52-floor tower in a busy commercial and residential area, said Eduardo Sánchez, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
Stringer/Mexico/Reuters
An injured woman is transferred to a stretcher outside the headquarters of state oil giant Pemex in Mexico City on Thursday.
"They're conducting a tour of the building and the area adjacent to the blast site to verify if there are any still trapped so they can be rescued immediately," Sanchez said Thursday.
A government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said preliminary findings suggested the blast was caused by aged boiler exploding in a building next to the tower, Reuters reported.
The plaster ceiling of the basement collapsed, a spokesman for the local emergency agency said. He described conditions in the tower as "delicate."
The main floor and the mezzanine of the auxiliary building were heavily damaged, along with windows as far as three floors up.
A man who was on the ground floor when the explosion occurred told Forum TV that the first casualties were taken to a clinic in the adjacent office tower, where several thousand people work.
"It shook the building, and then we were evacuated," he said.
Company touted safety record
News of the blast came toward the end of the business day — just a few hours after the company had sent two messages on Twitter celebrating how much it had "reduced our accident rate in recent years," announcing that its "safety indicators" exceeded international standards:
Twitter.com
Twitter.com
"An explosion took place in the B2 building of the administrative center," Pemex tweeted just after 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). "There are injuries and damage on the ground floor and mezzanine," it said, promising further information as it became available.
Pemex initially said the building had been evacuated because of a problem with its electricity supply. It then said there had been an explosion, but it didn't give the cause.
Milenio TV via NBC News
The scene at Pemex headquarters in Mexico City on Thursday after an explosion. There was no official explanation for the blast.
Television images showed people being evacuated — some on office chairs and gurneys. Emergency crews loaded people on stretchers into helicopters and airlifted them out of the area.
"The place shook, we lost power and suddenly there was debris everywhere," Cristian Obele told Milenio news network. "Colleagues were helping us out of the building."
Jose Cuellar, a mechanic who works near the complex, said he was repairing a car when an explosion rocked his entire workshop.
"We went to see and saw people coming out injured," Cuella, 45, told El Universal. "Other people were carrying them."
Edgar Zuniga Jr. and M. Alex Johnson of NBC News, Telemundo and Reuters contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
The dramatist in me wants to imagine that this is the first shot in an outright war between the Mexican government and the drug cartels, which will end with the entire nation in ruins, everyone dead, and Quetzalcoatl finally showing up 500 years too late for his appointment with Montezuma, approving of the sacrifice and wondering why there isn't a priest-king (with a still-beating heart on his dinner plate) to say "hi". People should just stop trying to live on that part of the Earth; it's obviously cursed, as every civilization that rises between the Rio Grande and the Yucatan seems to wind up bathing in its own blood.
Did the building collapse on its own footprint at free-fall speed?
Shut the @!$%# up, Mike! Can't you see you're the first to have thought of... how shall I put it? maybe, yeah, the Unthinkable...
"A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preliminary findings suggested the blast was caused by aged boiler exploding in a Pemex building next to the tower,"...a boiler...yeah, right.
The boiler was probably used to heat water which makes perfect sense. I had an explosion in Mexico that was caused by the water. Kari- I'd be happy to help you with your dicktion(sp?).
Ban boilers and tall buildings. It's for the sake of the CHILDREN!!
The hoodlums have taken over the government !! ..Time to take the gloves off and get rid of those gangster Sob's ...!!!!!
No friendly tourists around to video tape the explosion, anyone?
We have our own problems here in the states, including buildings that blowup. But stop to think for just a minute, what do we have here that would make millions of people risk their lives to be here. The least corruption. The least violence per capita. The freedom to say what you want without repercussions from the government, anyway. Not having to worry about carloads of thought police stopping you and arresting you because something you said to your neighbor that the government doesn't like. And not much of a chance that you would be kidnapped from the street and held for ransom by a drug cartel. And the biggest worry for most of us today, was that the author of this article may have used too many commas.kari huus you did a great job today. Thank the Lord for the USA!
REALLY!!! Can you self absorbed narrow minded fools not see the forest from the trees here? Maybe the story is not grammatically perfect - I am sure that I will incur some type of error also, but the story was not meant to be turned around to be about your snipping attitudes. Loved ones were hurt loved ones were lost in this explosion THAT should be the main focus of the story. Look down your noses at something else besides how a story is edited, perhaps something was lost in the translation, maybe it was done quickly as to get it to press I do not know, I do not care. Just shut the hell up trying to outdo each other to pick this story apart and have a little compassion in your soul. Go back to 9-11-2001 when the news stories were flying off the wire, did you pick those stories apart too just so you could stroke your own egos and feel you were smarter and a little more "book learned" then someone else? Get a FU@@ing life. Yes I know the second to the last word of that last sentence was spelled wrong
Oh my God will you narrow mined fools get over the fact that someone may have spelled or edited something incorrectly. Is that all the news is to you is a game to pick apart the stories that someone is hurrying to get to press, or perhaps something was lost in translation. It is a pitiful life that you lead when you can't stop looking down your noses long enough to realize that this is not about you, it is about feeling pain and compassion for the hurt, the deceased and their families. You seriously need to get a life and realize that there are more important things going on in the world and we do NOT care about your abilities to perhaps phrase something a little more accurately than the average Joe. I would hope to God that when 9-11-2001 happened you did not have the same pompous attitude that has carried through on this story. Seriously - get a life, get a hobby, something that can help feed your starving egos that have missed the REAL importance of this story. Life is to short to be so anal.
It's amazing that so many responses here got blogged down (new word) and did not mention anything about the people still trapped in the rubble. This is a desperate, not grammatical, situation.
Well said, Reader in North Texas! And I like your descriptive newly coined phrase - blogged down. :)
"Meanwhile, as NBC tries to legislate through brainwashing....."
Like most of the news we get in here, we get the initial bits and pieces of facts, rumors, hearsay, etc. Then, later on, the story changes. Usually by the minute. In summary, nobody seems to know whether or not this was a terrorist act or a bad boiler. Perhaps a terrorist would know the result of a small charge or bomb placed next to a boiler ? Lots of possibilities. Fact is, we don't know yet. Let the Mexicans figure it out while the press re-writes their stories. Stay tuned. Like the weather here in Missouri - wait 15 minutes and it will change.
Aged boiler? We'll never know! I'll say it again. there will be more and more of this stuff and closer to home. Wake up!
We'll know tatortot. Also, I was just resting my eyes.
al-q copycat or not
they are lame regardless
poor, poor Mexicans,...their cousins have come visiting....
Was the blast caused by natural gas or terrorism? A faulty gas line could cause that or it could be the drug cartel.
My heart goes out to everyone that lost there lives and the families that loved them. A boiler explosion is always catastrophic.
As for the rest of you insincere, beligerant, heartless people, How dare you. Most of you will surely rot in hell and that to me is something to smile about. And to the 2 skanks that thought this was a good place to have a personal battle of who's tang stinks the least at the beginning of these posts'. Well, you both probably smell like spoiled hamburger and for your insincerity to this situation where many lives were lost you deserve your stynch.
Well said. (And my spell checker is not working so if here any errors in my two word post - sorry)
And did the voices in your head tell you these people will surely rot in Hell?
I don't think that a boiler by itself exploding would do that much damage. But, natural gas along with the boiler could. Terrorism is also possible.
Don't know much about boilers, eh, John? Yes, and industrial boiler could cause that kind of damage. 4 yeaars Machinist Mate, 8 years Stationary Engineer, Mo. Dept. of Corrections...pretty familiar with what can happen with a boiler.
I have seen a boiler knock down 36" concrete walls and remove the windows from homes for 10 blocks. I happen to be a mechanic in this field and I can tell you for a fact that a 2 million btu boiler can easily destroy a city block and thats why they are surrounded by concrete, thick concrete.
I'm surprised the building is still standing and didn't collapse.
That little 50 gallon water heater in your home. If that gas valve ever sticks on or that thermostat ever sticks closed and the pressure relief doesn't open or you capped it off because it was leaking. That little thing can transform your home into splinters.
Now aren't you GLAD you hired that Mexican plumber?
The people in Mexico need to unionize to get safer and better working conditions, and wedges The ACLU needs to move down there to fight for their rights!
This smells more like the "Earth First" crowd than Al-Quaida.
I hope and pray that those who are still trapped will be found quickly. My condolences to the victims of this explosion and their loved ones.
Boiler explosion! Yea Right! I'll wait until the real cause of the blast comes out, and the real group that targeted the national oil company!
Mexico's 911.......and brought to you by the Mexican Government.
Dude why would the gov't do this to their moneymaker?.Between PEMEX and a new president, the rich get richer. Nah, THIS is terrorism
Nah, it's a boiler
Why did the U.S. knock down their "money-maker". Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
Adios Amigos