Fayez Hoda, Pune
A devastating incident unfolded in northern Mexico as a church roof
collapsed during a service, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 11 lives and leaving 60
individuals injured. Authorities reported on Monday that no more individuals were believed to be
trapped beneath the debris.
Initially, state police estimated that around 100 people were inside the church in Ciudad Madero,
a Gulf Coast city when the roof collapsed during a baptism ceremony on Sunday. They also
expressed concerns that approximately 30 parishioners might be trapped beneath the rubble.
However, Tamaulipas state Governor Américo Villarreal later clarified that they believed only 70
individuals had been inside at the time of the incident. Remarkably, minutes before the collapse,
the main Sunday mass, attended by as many as 300 people, had just concluded, and most of
the congregation had already left the church.
Governor Villarreal indicated that after deploying search dogs and thermal imaging cameras
under the collapsed concrete structure, it appeared that no one else was trapped, aside from
the ten bodies that had already been recovered. He stated, “The most likely thing, I can’t affirm it
100%, is that there aren’t any more people trapped,” Villarreal said while emphasizing that the
search efforts had found no signs of life within the collapsed area.
The accuracy of this assessment will be tested when cranes are used to remove sections of the
collapsed structure and the debris around the pews. The state civil defense office announced
that the search and rescue phase of the operation had concluded on Monday morning.
Luis González de la Fuente, the state’s civil defense coordinator, sadly confirmed the 11th
casualty, an 18-year-old woman, who had been among the two individuals listed in serious
condition earlier on Monday.
This tragic incident unfolded during a mass baptism ceremony at the Santa Cruz church in
Ciudad Madero, located along the Gulf coast near the port city of Tampico.