A leak has been blamed by Mexican authorities for the petrochemical plant blast that killed at least 24 people in the Gulf port of Coatzacoalcos.
The Mexican oil giant Pemex confirmed the deaths on Thursday and said 19 more remained in hospital, 13 with serious injuries, as it grappled with the latest in a series of fatal accidents to batter the company.
The Pemex chief executive, Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, who travelled to the site of Wednesday’s blast, said: “We know there was a leak, what we don’t know is why, but everything points to an accident,” Gonzalez Anaya said.
The massive explosion at the facility’s Chlorinate-3 plant in the Gulf state of Veracruz also injured 136 people, 13 of them seriously. Another 18 were unaccounted for and one badly damaged part of the plant had yet to be searched.
Chemical smells filled the air and the plants’ turbines still streamed grey smoke on Thursday afternoon as local and municipal police, as well as marines, blocked the entrance to the facility.
Most officials wore blue face masks to protect against the fumes, while family members crowded around, their faces uncovered, demanding more information on missing relatives and at times throwing objects at the officials or pushing them.
The blast occurred at a vinyl petrochemical plant that is a joint venture between Pemex’s petrochemical unit and majority owner Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem. Pemex operates the larger petrochemical complex where the plant was located, known as Pajaritos. Shares in Mexichem closed 5.2% lower on Thursday.
“We are desperate because no-one is coming out to show their face,” said Ancelma Cordero, 49, whose 21-year-old brother is one of the missing and has not responded to his mobile phone.
“They told us we were breathing toxins and we should leave,” she said of authorities. “But … if we leave, they could make the bodies disappear.“
Calling it a “tragic accident”, President Enrique Peña Nieto said he would head to the region to attend to victims.
In February a fire killed a worker at the same plant, which makes vinyl chloride monomer, also known as chloroethene, an industrial chemical used in plastic piping.
The explosion was the latest in a litany of safety disasters that have plagued the state oil giant, which is trying to stem the bleed of sliding output and slash costs as it creaks under the pressure of low crude prices.
