Pemex Officials Blamed in Blasts in Guadalajara

The Mexican attorney general said Sunday that four officials of the government oil industry were chiefly responsible for the underground gas explosions that devastated Guadalajara last week and will be criminally prosecuted.

Federal investigators determined that the main cause of the blasts was a leak in a gasoline pipeline operated by Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil monopoly known as Pemex. The gasoline seeped into the city sewer system for at least two days before the disaster.

More than 200 people were killed in last Wednesday’s explosions, which ripped deep trenches along five miles of city streets, damaging 1,600 buildings.

Attorney General Ignacio Morales Lechuga said he will seek negligent homicide charges against the Pemex officials, as well as three representatives of the regional sewer system.

“The imprudence, the negligence and the apathy of these public servants contributed to these events,” Morales said in a news conference.

Pemex has denied culpability for the explosions. It did, however, promise $32.8 million to help with reconstruction efforts to try to “mitigate the disgrace.” It also pledged to increase security at all its facilities.

The attorney general’s report pointed to a breakdown of oversight by officials at all levels of government in Mexico’s second-largest city. A variety of functionaries--including the mayor of Guadalajara and the head of its sewer system--were also found negligent.

They are still under investigation and also may be prosecuted.

In addition, the city’s urban development chief, heads of three cooking factories and a private company that excavated the street above the pipeline are under investigation.

Morales said that the day before the blast, Pemex officials noted that hundreds of barrels of leaded gasoline were flowing into the sewers--but instead of taking action, they simply went home for the evening.

The Pemex superintendent in Guadalajara, Juan Antonio Delgado, was reportedly aware of reports of a gasoline leak 18 hours before the explosions, as were three other Pemex officials. Investigators “determined that this conduct makes them criminally responsible,” the attorney general’s report said.

The report also said that representatives of the regional sewer authority measured explosive levels of gas in the sewers nearly 24 hours before the blast but issued no warning. The sewer authority is an entity of Jalisco state, of which Guadalajara is the capital.

Mayor Enrique Dau Flores was also criticized for failing to order an evacuation of the working-class neighborhoods that were destroyed in the blast.

“It has been established that the loss of life could have been avoided if these functionaries had acted responsibly and initiated an evacuation of the area,” the attorney general said.

The report brought to a climax a week of political turmoil in the wake of the disaster. As angry residents of the stricken area demanded that those responsible be punished, Dau took a leave of absence and other high-ranking officials resigned, including the head of the regional sewer system, Gualberto Limon Macias.

No formal charges were filed Sunday. A negligent homicide conviction in Mexico carries a fine but no jail time. The criminal charges could also open the way for civil proceedings--and further financial damages--against Pemex and other government agencies.

In the hours after the blast, Pemex blamed the disaster on the nearby La Central cooking-oil factory, saying it had dumped hexane gas into the sewers. La Central’s owners denied any responsibility. Sunday’s report said the company had played only a minor role in the disaster.

According to the attorney general’s report, the chain of events leading to the disaster began several years ago when a private company excavated the street and installed a water pipe just above the gasoline pipeline.

The water pipe caused the gasoline pipeline to slowly corrode and break, the report said. The gasoline found its way into the sewer system, where it mixed with a much smaller amount of hexane, an industrial solvent used by at least three cooking factories in the area, including La Central.