7 in Family Killed as Blast Rips Their Motor Home

Seven members of a La Puente family, on a trip into Mexico to return their elderly aunt to her native Yucatan Peninsula, were burned to death in an explosion in their motor home in northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.

The dead were from three generations of an immigrant family, from 85-year-old Serafina Quintal, who had dreamed of returning to her homeland ever since she arrived here 32 years ago, to her four grandnephews, children who were born, raised and schooled in California.

Jose Asuncion Garcia, 37, was driving near the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, south of Laredo, Tex., when the explosion of a propane or butane tank ripped through the vehicle, Mexican officials said. Killed were Garcia’s wife, Gina, 34, and their four sons, ages ranging from 3 to 15. Serafina Quintal was Gina Garcia’s aunt. Gina’s sister, Maritza Ocampo, 21, also died.

Jose Garcia escaped with minor injuries, but his 14-year-old daughter Rosy was burned over at least 70% of her body. She is scheduled to be airlifted to a Los Angeles hospital today. A third survivor was Maritza Ocampo’s boyfriend, Gerardo Macias Guerrero, 19.

All of the dead were trapped in the back of the motor home, police said.

Garcia, who has worked for 20 years in the maintenance department of a supermarket chain, last month took out a second mortgage on his small La Puente home to purchase the used motor home for the trip, relatives said.

“They had it set up really nice, with a kitchen and beds,” said Mario Ocampo, whose sisters, Maritza and Gina, died in the accident. “Everybody was very excited.”

Mario Ocampo spoke to The Times at his home in La Puente, where he was surrounded by drawings Maritza had left behind. He remembered the commotion and chatter that filled the house as the Garcias and their children prepared for the trip.

“Nobody ever thought this could happen,” he said. “How could you imagine it? . . . Practically all my family was there.”

The family left Friday, as soon as school let out. Rosy had just graduated from Grandview Junior High School. Anthony, the 15-year-old who died, had played on the football team at Workman High School. The other boys--Ricardo, 10, Ruben, 8, and Joe, 3--were taking time out from their summer games for the trip. And Maritza Ocampo, at the last minute, got permission to take time off from her job as a computer programmer and joined the excursion.

Mexican police said they believe propane or butane gas leaking from a tank used for cooking probably was involved, but it was not known what caused the fumes to explode.

Garcia apparently was aware of the leak problem and stopped the vehicle outside Sabinas Hidalgo, in the state of Nuevo Leon, 60 miles south of the Texas border. But there was an explosion and the motor home burst into flames, Federal Police Cmdr. Ruben Hoy de la Garza said.

The force of the explosion tossed the two adult survivors from the vehicle as the rear living quarters were rapidly engulfed in flames, Hoy de la Garza said in a telephone interview.

“They did not have a chance,” he said of the seven fatalities. “It was quite ugly.”

Garcia returned to the burning motor home and desperately tried to reach his family, according to his brother, Ignacio Garcia, a Northridge real estate agent, who rushed to Mexico after learning of the accident. But he could only pull Rosy from the flames before a second explosion forced him back, Ignacio Garcia said.

“Wherever he went, he would always take his wife and children,” Ignacio Garcia, 39, said of his brother. “They were inseparable.”

The Garcias married 20 years ago, a short time after Jose Garcia made the common immigrant’s journey from Tijuana to Los Angeles in search of better education and opportunity.

This trip to Mexico was to be, in part, a first international vacation for the Garcias and their children. But its motivating force was Serafina Quintal who, for years, planned to return to the Yucatan to stay. Her final goal was to visit her lone surviving brother, whom she had not seen since she left for a new life in California 32 years ago. They had exchanged photographs and telephone calls in recent months in anticipation of their reunion.

Year after year, relatives said, Quintal bought and hoarded trinkets and clothing that she planned to take back as gifts for friends and family. Ultimately, she filled nine suitcases that were packed into the camper, and still she had to leave some items behind.

Like many matriarchs of immigrant families, Serafina Quintal helped raise her nieces and nephews, and in turn, their children.

“Since we were kids, my aunt always talked about the day she would go back,” Mario Ocampo recalled.

When news of the accident, which happened Sunday, reached Los Angeles, about 20 of Jose and Gina Garcia’s relatives flew to Monterrey, the largest city near Sabinas Hidalgo. The bodies were taken to a morgue in Monterrey. Burial will be in Tijuana, because relatives have decided it would be too expensive to return all the bodies to Los Angeles.