Several Workers Killed in Explosion at Jose Cuervo Plant in Mexico

At least six workers were killed in an explosion at a Jose Cuervo tequila distillery in central Mexico on Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The explosion occurred in a large boiler at the Casa Cuervo facility in the city of Tequila, the spirit's hometown in Mexico's Jalisco state. The resulting fire spread to three tanks, each with a capacity of 219,000 liters, Jalisco's civil protection cervice said in a statement.

Areas around the plant, operated by Becle, the world's largest producer of tequila, were evacuated as a precaution, and electricity was temporarily cut. After a few hours, electricity was restored and people were allowed to return to the area.

After the fire was extinguished, Víctor Hugo Roldán, director of Jalisco's civil protection service, told reporters that an investigation into the cause of the explosion by the state's Institute of Forensic Sciences was already underway.

State authorities confirmed Tuesday that five workers were killed, and at least two were injured, one of them seriously. In an update on Wednesday, the civil protection service confirmed that a sixth person was found dead in a retention pit while firefighters worked on cooling and debris removal.

The civil protection service also said another fire broke out Wednesday morning in a storage area at the facility, and reached a 200-liter tank that contained "raw material waste," but the fire was quickly controlled. The agency said they are continuing to monitor the situation at the site.

With TMX

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Mexico