Deadly Explosion at Riviera Maya Resort in Mexico Blamed on Swamp Gas

A powerful explosion that killed five Canadian tourists and two Mexican workers at a resort hotel on Mexico's posh Riviera Maya was apparently caused by build up of gas from a nearby swamp, authorities said.

The blast at the 676-room hotel Grand Riviera Princess hotel in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, blew out windows and ceiling panels, and hurled paving stones and chunks of metal 50 yards (meters) onto the palm-fringed lawn of the compound.Francisco Alor, attorney general of Quintana Roo, the state where the resort is located, said five Canadian tourists were killed and two others were in critical condition. A total of 12 people were injured in Sunday's explosion: Eight Mexicans, two Americans and two Canadians. The injuries of the Americans and Mexicans appeared less serious.

Alor described a horrific scene in which the floor of the building was hurled through the ceiling by the force of the explosion, blowing out windows and sending fragments of aluminum window and ceiling panels frame over a wide area.

"Everyone said their hotel room shook. The glass at neighboring restaurants all cracked and blew out. The tiki hut that was in the area, that was on fire," said James Gaade of St. Catharines, Ontario, who was walking on the beach when he heard a loud explosion and saw smoke coming from the resort's premium platinum lounge. "There was a large crater in the area, debris." ...

via Deadly Explosion at Riviera Maya Resort in Mexico Blamed on Swamp Gas.