Over 1,300 people evacuated due to gas leak in Mexico
Mexico City, Sep 13 : A gas leak in the Mexican state of Puebla forced the evacuation early on Wednesday of more than 1,300 people across seven neighbourhoods in the like-named capital, officials said.
The gas leak was caused by a clandestine tap in Puebla city on a gas pipeline belonging to state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
Authorities reported that among the evacuees were as many as 190 patients from a local hospital.
The neighbourhoods endangered by the leak are Vicente Guerrero, Villa Frontera, Colonia San Pedro, Villas del Marquez, Villas de San Gregorio, Revolucion Mexicana and Venustiano Carranza, Efe reported.
The affected families had trouble leaving the emergency zone due to a shortage of public transportation in the area.
The strong gas odor, which was detected at around 4:30 am in the area known as "Camino a Tlaltenongo," prompted emergency management office personnel, firefighters and Pemex workers to activate their emergency protocols.
Pemex personnel shut off the valve located in the neighboring state of Tlaxcala, but the leftover concentration of gas within the pipes remained flowing out for several hours.
Municipal authorities suspended classes in 17 local schools.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
