MEXICO CITY — Injured and bleeding, mothers carrying infants fled from a maternity hospital shattered by a powerful gas explosion Thursday, and rescuers swung sledgehammers to break through concrete, hunting for others who might be trapped.
A woman and child were killed and 73 people were injured in the blast that collapsed about three-fourths of the hospital, Mexico City officials said. 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 woman and a newborn between 2 and 3 weeks old died, said Armando Ahued, the city’s health secretary. He said 21 babies were injured, and nine of those and seven adults were in serious condition after being rushed to other hospitals.
Felicitas Hernandez, 35, wept as she 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 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. when a tanker truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. Witnesses said the tanker workers struggled for 15 or 20 minutes to repair the leak while a cloud of gas formed.
Workers on the truck yelled, “Call the firefighters, call the firefighters!” said anesthesiologist Agustin Herrera. People started to evacuate the hospital, and then came the explosion that sent up an enormous fireball and plumes of dust and smoke.
Herrera saw injured mothers walking out carrying babies. Officials said 110 people were inside the 35-bed hospital when the truck blew up.
“We avoided a much bigger tragedy because the oxygen tanks right beside (the area) didn’t explode,” Herrera said.
