Blast kills 13, injures dozens at Mexico petrochemical plant

MEXICO CITY — An explosion killed 13 people and injured scores at a petrochemical plant on Mexico’s southern gulf coast, forcing evacuations as a fire billowed a huge toxin-filled cloud into the air.

The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency, Luis Felipe Puente, wrote on his Twitter account Thursday that emergency personnel had been able to enter the burned-out plant and found 10 more cadavers.

The state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said 136 workers had been hurt in the blast in the industrial port city of Coatzacoalcos.

The director of Petroleos Mexicanos told the Radio Formula station that 13 of the injured were in serious condition, and said the death toll could rise.

Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte earlier told Radio Formula that the blast was felt as far as 6 miles away, adding that more than 2,000 people were evacuated from the area as a precaution.

The Veracruz state Health Department said two patients were in grave condition Wednesday night from burns to their air passages from toxic gases.