FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: SANDRA STEINGRABER 607-351-0719
JOINT STATEMENT BY GAS FREE SENECA AND WE ARE SENECA LAKE ON THE LPG EXPLOSION IN MEXICO CITY HOSPITAL
Yesterday’s massive explosion of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) that leveled a children’s and maternity hospital in Mexico City brought unspeakably horrific images of mothers fleeing with newborns and rescue workers searching for babies under the rubble of what had been, just moments earlier, a place of safety and healing.
One nurse and two infants lost their lives; 60 people were injured; 39 people remain hospitalized; 18 are listed in critical conditions; and half of the victims are babies. One infant was burned over 80 percent of its body.
Gas Free Seneca and We Are Seneca Lake express our sorrow and deepest condolences to the victims, families, first responders, and the health care professionals who oversaw a hasty evacuation in the moments before the blast, and, in the attempt to save lives at their own peril, were nevertheless forced to leave behind babies in their care.
We express our admiration for the Red Cross, which promptly sent 23 ambulances and 40 rescuers to the scene.
While details of the blast are still emerging and we are waiting to learn more, this accident, prompted by a gas leak, is a tragic reminder that these fuels carry inherent dangers and that the risks of burying hundreds of millions of gallons of LPG in the old salt caverns beside Seneca Lake are too great.
We recommit ourselves to our ongoing efforts to stop Seneca Lake from serving as a mass storage depot for LPG and call upon Governor Cuomo, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to join us in these efforts. There should be no possibility that the horrific scenes in Mexico City will be replayed in New York’s Finger Lakes.