Blast kills two in Mexico children's hospital
A powerful fuel truck explosion has shattered a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said that the body of a woman was found inside the hospital and many people were injured by flying glass.
He earlier told the Televisa network that at least 54 people were injured, 22 of them children. Most of the injuries were relatively minor, he said.
Fausto Lugo, the city’s civil defence director, said in a television interview that the death toll had risen to two. He said 37 people were taken to other hospitals and he said other people were probably still buried in the rubble.
The explosion sent a column of smoke billowing over the area on the western edge of Mexico’s capital and television images showed much of the hospital collapsed, with firefighters trying to extinguish fires. Mr Mancera said the heaviest damage was near the hospital’s loading dock.
Borough chief Adrian Rubalcava said the injured were being taken to a nearby hospital, but the area had insufficient ambulances.
Mr Rubalcava said “the most worrisome is the collapse of a large part of the hospital”.
