(Bloomberg) — A gas explosion at a children's and maternity hospital in Mexico City killed at least three adults and four children and injured dozens more.
The blast occurred about 7 a.m. local time. Televised images showed rescuers searching the wreckage for survivors.
A tanker truck was delivering gas to the public hospital in western Mexico City when a hose burst and caused the explosion, Mayor Miguel Mancera said. Much of the hospital was destroyed, Adrian Rubalcava, head of the capital's Cuajimalpa borough, told Milenio TV. More people are feared trapped under the rubble, Rubalcava said.
The Mexican Red Cross said nine babies were transferred to other hospitals for treatment, El Universal newspaper said.
The fuel supplier in today's blast was Gas Express Nieto, according to Reforma, which cited theMexico City prosecutor's office. The company was involved in a gas truck explosion last year that left three dead in Queretaro, 130 miles (215 kilometers) northwest of Mexico City, Plaza de Armas newspaper reported.
"The company will take responsibility for what happened," Saul Vera, customer service manager at Gas Express Nieto, said in a telephone interview. Higher-ranking executives were at the scene of the explosion, he said.
Tanker trucks supplying homes with liquefied petroleum gas are common in Mexico City. Twenty-seven people died in a May 2013 explosion in Ecatepec, Mexico, just north of the capital, when a tanker truck lost control on a highway and crashed into cars and homes.
–With assistance from Isabella Cota, Eric Martin and Nacha Cattan in Mexico City.
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