[cmyden]

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/G...548/story.html

MEXICO CITY — A groom in Mexico for his wedding, as well as a father and his young son, were among five Canadian tourists killed Sunday in a massive gas explosion at a hotel in Mexico.
The blast also sent at least seven other Canadians to hospital with injuries.
The boy, three men and one woman died after the explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel, a sprawling complex in the beach-lined resort of Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.

Mexican authorities said initial investigations were focusing on the possibility that naturally occurring gas from a nearby swamp had built up under the hotel lobby's floor and somehow ignited.

Alor described a horrific scene in which the floor of the building was basically hurled through the ceiling by the force of the explosion, blowing out windows and sending fragments of aluminum window and ceiling panels over a wide area.

"The velocity of the air coming back was incredible, so people were thrown around all over the place in the rooms and hallways," said Arthur, who is on vacation with six friends. "There were several people in the debris, there was a lot of people wounded from flying glass."