70 families evacuated due to risk of explosion in Colima

At least 70 families were evacuated from the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood in the municipality of Cuauhtémoc in Colima, due to the risk of an explosion due to a gasoline leak whose origin is still unknown.

Since Tuesday night, residents of the municipal capital of Cuauhtémoc reported to 911 a strong smell of gasoline coming from the pipes of the houses and the drainage.

The smell has caused physical discomfort to the residents of at least four streets, which is why they fear for their health.

Civil Protection personnel with the support of federal forces are carrying out an operation to identify the origin of the possible gasoline leak, but so far they have not been successful.

One of the searches was on Juárez Street. We found a concentration that indicated the risk of an explosion,” said José Cruz, director of Civil Protection of Cuauhtémoc.

The official also reported that for now only three families are in the shelter that was set up to deal with this emergency, the rest of the people have been relocated with close relatives.

Sewers in Colima

In addition to the risk of explosion, both authorities and residents of the municipality are worried about their health, since the presence of fuel in the pipes has already caused some symptoms such as headaches and dizziness.

One of my sisters-in-law was vomiting all day. We don’t know what’s happening,” said Adriana Ramírez, a resident of Juárez Street, one of the points where the smell of fuel is most noticeable, with concern.

At the moment, four streets in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood have been closed; in some of them, in the early hours of the morning, residents discovered that it is possible to set fire to the water that flows from the pipes due to its high contamination with fuel.

The government of Colima reported at midday on Wednesday that “the evacuated homes remain in a state of shelter” and that work continues to find the source of the fuel, so constant monitoring of the pipes is being done and roads have had to be opened with the help of heavy machinery to follow the trail of the fuel.

Source: excelsior