Mother Dies Protecting Son in Cuernavaca Gas Tanker Explosion

Viviana Aguilar Zendejas, 38, has died from injuries sustained in a gas tanker explosion that rocked Cuernavaca on August 6. She passed away on August 13 at the La Raza National Medical Center in Mexico City, becoming the first fatality from the blast caused by a Tomza company gas tanker.

Aguilar had been in critical condition with second and third-degree burns. She suffered these injuries when she used her own body to protect her son from the shockwave of the explosion on Francisco Villa street in the Las Granjas neighborhood. Despite being transferred to a high-specialty hospital in the capital to save a lower limb, systemic damage from her injuries led to her death.

The explosion, attributed to an LPG gas leak from the Tomza unit, has resulted in one confirmed death, 20 individuals with severe burns, and structural damage to 32 homes. The State Attorney General's Office of Morelos is expected to reclassify investigation files to include charges of culpable homicide, alongside injuries and property damage, against those responsible.