COATZACOALCOS,
Mexico (AP) — The death toll from a petrochemical plant explosion in
southeastern Mexico has risen to 24, state oil company Petroleos
Mexicanos reported late Thursday.
Pemex
raised the toll from the 13 fatalities previously known and also said
19 people remained hospitalized, with 13 of them in serious condition.
Earlier
in the day, desperate relatives gathered outside the plant in the
industrial port city of Coatzacoalcos, on Mexico's southern Gulf coast,
hoping for news about loved ones still unaccounted for. At the time,
officials said 18 workers had been reported missing.
About
30 families massed at a plant entrance road, where a sharp chemical
smell still hung in the air about 2 kilometers (a mile) from where the
explosion occurred Wednesday afternoon. Many wore facemasks to ward off
the pungent odor.
Shoving
broke out as people unsuccessfully tried to force their way into the
installation. Some shouted at marines and soldiers who were called in to
guard the facility, and they threw rocks at a white government SUV when
it arrived at the scene.
Rosa
Villalobos traveled about four hours by bus from the city of Veracruz
to scour Coatzacoalcos hospitals looking for her son, Luis Alfonso Ruiz
Villalobos, a 25-year-old worker at the plant. When she couldn't find
him she showed up at the plant entrance.
"What
I want is for justice to be done in my son's case, for there to be no
impunity," Villalobos said. "I'm going to stay here. Even though I have
no money, even though I have nothing to eat, I'm staying put."
Some
volunteers brought food and drink to the families. After a while
authorities began taking people inside in small groups to see a list of
those confirmed dead. Some left crying after seeing their loved ones'
names.
Pemex
said Thursday night that it was prioritizing the safety of those
inspecting the plant, and they were still gradually gaining access to
more parts of the site.
The
blast in this industrial port city forced evacuations of nearby areas
as it sent a toxin-filled cloud billowing into the air and injuring more
than 100 workers.
Jose
Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, Pemex's director, told Radio Formula that the
explosion was caused by a leak of as-yet unknown origin.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also toured the facility Thursday.
Antonio
Mariche, who accompanied the Villalobos family in search of Luis
Alfonso, vowed that the families would demand a full account of what
happened.
"To
the president, to the state governor, to the head of Pemex, we will not
allow any more cover-ups like have happened with previous accidents,"
Mariche said. "They have covered up the numbers (in the past); there
have been people who disappeared and regrettably never appeared. ... We
will go to the last consequences to make sure this doesn't keep
happening."
Pemex
said it and another company, Mexichem, operated the Clorados 3 plant of
Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo, which produces the hazardous
industrial chemical vinyl chloride.
In early February, a fire killed a worker at the same facility.
___
Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson and Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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