Advertisement

Mexico church: Ten dead after Tamaulipas roof collapse

MEXICO: At least 10 people have been killed after a church roof collapsed in northern Mexico, local officials say.

Forty-nine people were taken to hospital after the collapse at Santa Cruz church in the coastal city of Ciudad Madero in Tamaulipas state.

At least two children are reported to be among those killed.

Advertisement

Around 100 people were attending Mass at the time, police said. Some reports suggested a baptism ceremony was being held there.

Dozens of people were left trapped inside the church following the incident. Images on social media showed the church building in ruins as people crowded around the rubble, desperately searching for those who were missing.

The governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal, later said that all the missing had been accounted for, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Local journalist Franc Contreras told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme that the collapse happened at a key moment in the service.

“The church was packed with about 100 people, and people were lined up to take the communion – of course that’s sort of the climax of the Catholic Mass – and that’s when the roof came down on top of them; bricks, concrete, and of course steel support structures coming down on top of the people,” he said.