Seven Officials Jailed in Deadly Guadalajara Blasts

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Authorities on Monday jailed seven officials accused of negligence in sewer explosions that claimed more than 200 lives. Residents were warned that the area around a government oil storage facility is still dangerous.

The defendants appeared at a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon at the state prison outside the city. They stood as the judge read charges including negligent homicide, causing damage and injury to others, damage to public communications and violation of federal environmental laws.

The homicide charge makes the officials--four from the local Pemex oil company and three from city water and sewer departments--ineligible for bail under Mexican law. Arrested defendants are assumed guilty and must prove their innocence.

An eighth official, Aristeo Mejia, the Jalisco state urban development secretary, was hospitalized with an apparent heart attack. A ninth, Mayor Enrique Dau Flores, obtained a temporary restraining order against his arrest.

Two businessmen linked to a pipeline construction company answered questions in a Guadalajara court but weren’t charged.

Last Wednesday’s explosions were caused by a leak of gasoline for several weeks from a corroded pipeline owned by Pemex, the government oil monopoly, investigators said Saturday.

On Monday, about 15,000 residents evacuated from the area were not permitted to return because of concern the soil was saturated with gasoline, city spokesman Armando Michuaud said.