Two dead, 18 injured in gas explosion at restaurant in Mexican tourist town

Police officers guard a scene where an explosion occurred at the Kool Beach restaurant, presumably caused by gas accumulation, which left four tourists injured, according to local media, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

An explosion caused by a gas leak killed two people and left 18 injured on Monday in a restaurant in a beachside tourist town in Mexico's Quintana Roo state, local authorities said.

The two victims were staff members at the restaurant in popular vacation zone Playa del Carmen, according to a statement shared on Twitter by the Attorney General of Quintana Roo.

Eight of the 18 people taken to hospitals after the blast have already been discharged, the statement said. Local authorities said 15 of the injured people were employees at the restaurant.

A police officer uses a sniffer dog to patrol near the area where an explosion occurred at the Kool Beach restaurant, presumably caused by gas accumulation, which left four tourists injured, according to local media, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

Gas leaks have been the source of other deadly incidents in popular tourist zones in Mexico. In 2018, a U.S. family of four, including two children, was found dead at their vacation condominium in Akumal, about an hour from Cancun, suffocated from gas.

In 2010, two five Canadian tourists and two workers were killed in a gas explosion that ripped through the restaurant of a hotel in Playa del Carmen.

A police officer walks past an ambulance and the coroner's vehicle at a scene where an explosion occurred at the Kool Beach restaurant, presumably caused by gas accumulation, which left four tourists injured, according to local media, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)