Rescue workers and firefighters an injured person after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico’s state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. An explosion at the main headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil company in the capital killed more than 10 people and injured some 80 as it heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline.MEXICO CITY – Rescuers searched the rubble for survivors and authorities promised a thorough investigation after an office building blast killed 25 people and injured 101 at the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos.
The cause of the basement explosion in an administrative building next to the iconic, 51-story Pemex tower in Mexico City remained a mystery early Friday, with President Enrique Pena Nieto urging people not to speculate. Theories ranged from an electrical fire to an air conditioning problem to a possible attack.
“We have no conclusive report on the reason,” Pena Nieto told reporters. “We will work to get to the bottom of the investigation to find out, first, what happened work, and if there are people responsible in this case, that we apply the full weight of the law against them.”
Some 46 people remained hospitalized after the Thursday afternoon blast, some gravely injured and others with cuts, fractures and burns. Authorities said the dead were 17 women and eight men.
More than 500 firefighters, soldiers and rescue workers dug through chunks of concrete with dogs, trucks and a Pemex crane.