Yuri Cortez / AFP - Getty Images
Rescue workers race to the headquarters of state-owned Mexican oil giant Pemex in Mexico City after a massive explosion Thursday, Jan. 31.
By Kari Huus, Staff Writer, NBC News
A powerful explosion in the Mexico City skyscraper complex housing the headquarters of Pemex, the?state oil monopoly, killed at least 14 people and injured at least 100 others, company and government officials said.
News of the casualties came from Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who spoke to Mexican television reporters after rushing to the scene. He said the death toll could rise, and by mid-evening, the newspaper El Universal was citing official sources as saying at least 20 people had been killed. NBC News hasn't confirmed the El Universal report.
Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto arrived at the Pemex administration complex by helicopter Thursday evening to supervise rescue operations, Pemex and the news agency La Prensa reported. Hundreds of Mexican military forces were sent to the complex to "preserve security," officials told El Universal.
Doctors in the emergency room at Central Hospital said they were treating more than 70 people for injuries, most of them broken bones.
Emilio Lozoya Austin, director general of Pemex, which is short for Petr?leos Mexicanos, was flying home from a business trip to Asia. He said he extended his condolences "to all the families of Pemex workers who have lost their loved ones."
The explosion took place in the basement garage of the auxiliary building, next to the company's 52-floor tower in a busy commercial and residential area, said Eduardo S?nchez, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
Stringer/Mexico/Reuters
An injured woman is transferred to a stretcher outside the headquarters of state oil giant Pemex in Mexico City on Thursday, Jan. 31.
"Right now, they're conducting a tour of the building and the area adjacent to the blast site to verify if there are any still trapped so they can be rescued immediately," Sanchez said.
The plaster ceiling of the basement collapsed, a spokesman for the local emergency agency said. He described conditions in the tower as "delicate."
S?nchez said as many as 30 people remained trapped in the debris. Search-and-rescue dogs were sent into the skyscraper, parts of which remained on fire at 10 p.m. ET, cloaking the Mexico City skyline in a thick cloud of smoke, Telemundo reported.
The main floor and the mezzanine of the auxiliary building were heavily damaged, along with windows as far as three floors up.?
A man who was on the ground floor when the explosion occurred told Forum TV that the first casualties were taken to a clinic in the adjacent office tower, where several thousand people work.
"It shook the building, and then we were evacuated," he said.
Company touted safety record
News of the blast came toward the end of the business day ? just a few hours after the company had sent two messages on Twitter celebrating how much it had "reduced our accident rate in recent years," announcing that its "safety indicators" exceeded international standards:
"An explosion took place in the B2 building of the administrative center," Pemex tweeted just after 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). "There are injuries and damage on the ground floor and mezzanine," it said, promising further information as it became available.
Later, the company tweeted: "Regrettably, they have confirmed 14 people dead and 80 injured."
The number of injured later rose to at least 100.
Pemex initially said the building had been evacuated because of a problem with its electricity supply. It then said there had been an explosion, but it didn't give the cause.
Milenio TV via NBC News
The scene at Pemex headquarters in Mexico City on Thursday, Jan. 31, after an explosion. There was no official explanation for the blast.
Television images showed people being evacuated ? some on office chairs and gurneys. Emergency crews loaded people on stretchers into helicopters and airlifted them out of the area.
"The place shook, we lost power and suddenly there was debris everywhere," Cristian Obele told Milenio news network. "Colleagues were helping us out of the building."
Jose Cuellar, a mechanic who works near the cimplex, said he was repairing a car when an explosion rocked his entire workshop.
"We went to see and saw people coming out injured," Cuella, 45, told El Universal. "Other people were carrying them."
M. Alex Johnson of NBC News and Telemundo contributed to this report.
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