Video | Mexico hotel blast kills seven

Five Canadian tourists and two Mexican workers were killed in an explosion that shook a resort hotel on Mexico’s up-market Riviera Mara – caused by a build-up of swamp gas.

15 November 2010, 12:00am

1 min read

The build-up of gas was apparently caused due to a nearby swamp, authorities said, and caused window and ceiling panels to blow out, and hurled paving stones and chunks of metal as far as 50 metres onto the hotel’s surrounding lawns.

A total of 12 people were injured in Sunday's explosion: Eight Mexicans, two Americans and two Canadians. The injuries of the Americans and Mexicans appeared less serious.

Francisco Alor, attorney general of Quintana Roo, described a horrific scene in which the floor of the building was hurled through the ceiling by the force of the explosion, blowing out windows and sending fragments of aluminium window and ceiling panels frame over a wide area.

Alor did not identify the victims. Playa del Carmen Civil Defense director Jesus Puc said the Canadian fatalities included a nine-year-old boy.

The blast occurred in a ground floor lounge in one of a dozen or so buildings that make up the sprawling hotel, and left a crater a metre deep. The area was cordoned off and Mexican army soldiers stood guard around the hotel.