Half of Mexican hotel where Canadians killed in explosion ordered closed

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have ordered the hotel where an explosion killed five Canadians last weekend to close about half its rooms after investigators discovered leaks of propane and waste water.

Javier Diaz Carvajal, Quintana Roo state urban development and environment secretary, told a Saturday news conference, in comments published by the Mexico City newspapers Milenio and El Universal, the indefinite closure was “preventive," and ordered “due to the risk of a new explosion.”

State attorney general Francisco Alor told RadioFormula in Mexico City earlier that investigators had discovered “irregularities” in some hotel installations, along with inappropriate development in areas at the Playa del Carmen resort.

“They’ve been discovering a series of irregularities, a series of demands, ranging from (installations) in areas where there shouldn’t have been construction to underground installations that are showing leaks such as sewage. Now they’ve detected a propane leak in one area. This has taken us the point that the (government) ordered a partial closure,” Alor said.

A hotel employee confirmed Saturday that part of the resort was closed and that guests had been relocated to other rooms on the same property.

Five Canadians and two Mexicans were killed last Sunday when an explosion tore through one of the lobbies at the sprawling Grand Riviera Princess Hotel resort.

Eighteen people were injured.

Family members of one of the dead Canadians have told CBC News that, after the blast, an ambulance taking the woman to hospital ran out of gas along the way and that the family was asked to pay for fuel.

Darlene Ferguson, a 51-year-old grandmother from Edmonton, died in a Cancun hospital after the explosion.

Ferguson’s brother, Barry Hoffman, told CBC that the mother of three was taken to three different medical facilities and that it took three hours before she was treated.

Her daughter, Katie Ferguson, who is a registered nurse, noticed that paramedics put on her mother’s respirator incorrectly, Hoffman said.

Ferguson was in Mexico for her son’s wedding.

The other Canadians killed were Malcolm Johnson, 33, of Nanaimo, B.C., who was in Mexico for his wedding; Christopher Charmont, 41, and his nine-year-old son, John, from Drumheller, Alta.; and Elgin Barron, 51, from Guelph, Ont.

Attempts to reach a Grand Riviera Princess spokesman Saturday were unsuccessful.

Hotel sales director Juan Llompart had previously told Postmedia News the resort had been regularly inspected and company officials were co-operating with investigators. Playa del Carmen Mayor Roman Quian Alcocer told local media Saturday the most recent civil protection inspection of the hotel would be scrutinized.

“There’s nothing to hide,” he said.

The explosion tore through one of the four lobbies in the resort, which contains two separate hotels on the same property

Prosecutors opened homicide investigations earlier in the week — a routine procedure in Mexico after unexplained deaths.

Alor has said previously investigators are pursuing the theory that there may have been an accumulation of methane gas due to rotting material in waste water, and that the gas ignited.

He was unable to say when investigators would submit a final report to prosecutors on the cause of the explosion, as test results were still pending. Investigators from the army, navy and federal attorney general’s office are participating in the probe.