Blast rocks Mexican state-run oil company offices

Blast rocks Mexican state-run oil company offices

By CNN Staff
updated 6:16 PM EST, Thu January 31, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Foro TV reports that some people are trapped in building's basement
• "There are injured and significant damage," a Pemex spokesman says
• The blast prompts an evacuation of the state oil company's offices

Mexico City (CNN) -- Workers were injured in an explosion at the administrative offices of Mexico's state-run Pemex oil company in the country's capital Thursday, state media reported.

Some people were trapped in the building's basement after the blast, Foro TV reported.

The blast prompted an evacuation of personnel from the Pemex offices, a company spokesman told Notimex.

A large plume of smoke rose near the office tower after the explosion.

Images from the scene showed emergency rescue teams carrying people on stretchers.

It was unclear how many people were injured or what caused the explosion, Pemex spokesman Francisco Montano told Notimex.

"There are injured and significant damage," he said, according to Notimex.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/world/americas/mexico-pemex-explosion/index.html

AP/ January 31, 2013, 7:52 PM

14 dead, 80 injured in Mexico oil company blast

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/201...61_620x350.jpg
Firefighters belonging to the Tacubaya sector and workers dig for survivors after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. / AP Photo/Guillermo Gutierrez

Updated 7:52 PM ET

MEXICO CITY An explosion at the main headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company in the capital Thursday killed 14 people and injured 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline.

There were also reports that as many as 30 people were trapped in the debris from the explosion, which occurred in the basement of an administrative building next to the iconic, 52-story tower of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. There was no immediate cause given for the blast.

"It was an explosion, a shock, the lights went out and suddenly there was a lot of debris," employee Cristian Obele told Milenio television, adding that he had been injured in the leg. "Co-workers helped us get out of the building."

The tower, where several thousand people work, was evacuated. The main floor and the mezzanine of the auxiliary building, where the explosion occurred, were heavily damaged, along with windows as far as three floors up.

"We were talking and all of sudden we heard an explosion with white smoke and glass falling from the windows," said Maria Concepcion Andrade, 42, who lives on the block of Pemex building. "People started running from the building covered in dust. A lot of pieces were flying."

A reporter at the scene saw rescue workers trying to free several workers trapped. Television images showed people being evacuated by office chairs, and gurneys. Most of them had injuries likely caused by falling debris.

Police landed four rescue helicopters to remove the dead or injured. About a dozen tow trucks were furiously moving cars to make more landing room for the helicopters.

In an earlier Tweet, the company said it had evacuated the building as a precautionary measure because of a problem with the electrical system in the complex that includes the skyscraper. It tweeted that several workers were injured.

Streets surrounding the building were closed as evacuees wandered around, and rescue crews loaded the injured into ambulances.

Interior Department spokesman Eduardo Sanchez confirmed that an explosion in a basement garage damaged the first and second floors of the auxiliary building, which is located in a busy commercial and residential area.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57567024/14-dead-80-injured-in-mexico-oil-company-blast/

At least 32 dead in Mexico City skyscraper explosion

A powerful explosion shook the building housing the headquarters of Mexican oil giant Pemex. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.


By Kari Huus, Staff Writer, NBC News

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 32, company and government officials said Friday.

20 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.




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.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Co...380;7;70;0.jpgStringer/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:
"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.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Co...380;7;70;0.jpgMilenio 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."

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/01/16795620-at-least-32-dead-in-mexico-city-skyscraper-explosion?lite