Pemex has been involved in a few different disasters over the years. One of the worst is the San Juanico Disaster. More on that here: ruclips.net/video/I23Cf-T8E8Y/видео.html
My mom and her family lived in Guadalajara when this happened. My uncle was out that day and my grandfather went out combing the streets to see if he was safe. My uncle said he had to run from the blasts. He said he’d never run that fast before and that it was all a blur. He was about 14 at the time and he was okay in the end.
I could not imagine what your grandfather was going through when out to look for a 14 year old in an exploding city. Glad everyone was safe and that your family is currently ok!
I live in Guadalajara, I was 11 yo when this happened, we never forget it, thank you for this video, it was very accurate and respectful greetings from Mexico
I hope you, your family and friends have made or will make a full recovery from it. It was frightening enough to watch on the news, so it must have been utterly terrifying to an 11 year old living in that city.
Guadalajara is my hometown. This happened a couple years before I was born, but I’ve been told so many stories about the horrors of that day. I remember they told me that an uncle of my mom had a business so he had a few vans, but when the explosions happened, one of the drivers asked my uncle if he could use the van to pick up bodies (emergency services were so saturated that civilians started to help on their own). He spent the next three days filling the van with bodies and bringing them to temporary forensic centers that were sometimes located on sport centers because hospitals were collapsed. The driver ended up so traumatized that he spent weeks on medical leave. And like that, I’ve heard a few stories from my own family and teachers. The incompetence that led to this tragedy and zero accountability is still something that makes people sore.
I have friends from Guadalajara who have talked about these explosions and the devastation. So sad that those affected have not been adequately compensated.
I never expected this channel to cover this incident, it's a pleasant surprise as not many people outside of Mexico know about it. My family has lived in Guadalajara for many years and they all have their own story to tell about the 92' explosions. An uncle of mine always tells the story of how his car ended up in someone's rooftop 3 blocks away from where he parked it.
*”He decided he wouldn’t evacuate, because it would be too costly and disruptive.”* Yeah……as opposed to a city accidentally being turned into the worlds largest *Molotov Cocktail….* 😒🤦♀️
Mexico's presidents have a reputation on being negligent and assholes, i would now since i live there and sadly most of the population like this kind of idiots
Turns out blowing up half of the city and killing hundreds was indeed the cheaper option for the company in charge. Such is the extent of general corruption, nepotism, corporate and political malfeasance in the world, as a matter of routine (and not just in Mexico).
I remember admiring brother when I was little after my parents told me that when he was a teen he volunteered to rescue people as soon as the explosions stopped, I was a baby and we were not in town when this happened, he was my older brother so he stayed home alone to take care of the house, none of my family were affected by the explosions so it was really cool that he spent days helping strangers.
your brother is a real mvp, tell him he's cool as fuck to help people. life is tough in mexico and theres so much violence, corruption and apathetic government. it brings a smile to my face when people still trying to their part in doing good in this hard world. rock on my dude
I'm a 27 years old Mexican, living in the northeast part of the country, and I have never hear about this accident. Thanks dear foregneir! Now I know a little more about my own country.
There's a Seconds From Disaster episode on RUclips about this that goes into more depth. Seconds From Disaster S01E08 Inferno In Guadalajara is the title. You'll see there's two identical uploads; one has a British narrator for UK syndication, the other with an American for US viewers (the British one has much better narration, IMO, and find it sad they had to redub it for us.) _Buenos dias_ from St. Louis, Missouri, US.
@@marxan10 como nací después de este accidente, pues me lo perdí cuando pasó, verdad. Pero se me hace extraño que no salieran noticias o artículos de lo sucedido, así como lo del terremoto del 86. Digo, no quiero crear teorías conspirativas, pero creo que Pemex tuvo que ver en algo.
@@Kenopsys No vivo en Mexico, pero te puedo decir que cosas asi se esconden para que nadie se acuerde. Pemex tiene un monopolio en el paiz, obvio que no se va a publicar las cosas malas que hacen. No es una teoria conspirativa.
my grandparent just to live in one of the streets that exploded, was horrible, i was in middle school at the time, the explosion was heard all over the city, both my grandparents survived but the scene was awful, my grandpa lived there since he was little and he wrote a book about it, is call "Analco Ayer...hoy Y Siempre" by Francisco Escalante Moreno, is very interesting, has some before and after pictures
@ghost mall the root problem in Mexico and much of Central and South America is a long-standing Spanish tradition known as Patronage. It’s deeply embedded in Latin Politics such that it forms the backbone of the political parties. And yes I know the patronage and cronyism exist in any political system. But the Patronage of the Spanish tradition is much more deeply embedded formalized and normalized.
It was an accident. Its not like anyone did this on purpose. PEMEX was found to be at fault because they had money. The cooking oil factory couldn't hand out award money.
I’m from Guadalajara My dad participated in the rescue operations of the explosion He always told me story’s about how disastrous it was, the government never reported the real amount of dead people, they even gave up on recovering some of the bodies and just build the new streets on top of them
What a shocker. I'd never heard of this disaster before. How could Pemex ignore the impending explosions or deny responsibility for it? The residents of Guadalajara deserve more than what they received in help
@@ScumfuckMcDoucheface anywhere where the people in power are bought off. Basically everywhere. Oil companies destroy ecosystems daily. They don’t care about damage to some city biome.
@@bafi29 hahaha... because your government is too corrupt to allow any kind of true information into the country to its citizens =) sorry friend... viva la Mexico
My mother lived in Guadalajara when this disaster happened, she lived in the district just beside where the explosion happened. She was in her 20s and the trauma of the event still affects her. The thought of gas and gas heating/stoves or gas energy makes her nervous and she refuses to buy a home that uses gas even now after decades and moving to a new country.
That is insane that the Pemex officials got off with no punishment and that the company wasn't forced to pay what they should have! I hope that someday soon the survivors get what they are entitled to.
Stuff like this should be grounds for public hanging. Negligence was bad enough on their part, but their continued willful dismissal of any wrongdoing both before and after the disaster is just straight up inhuman.
You can hope til you turn blue it’s not going to do anything for these ppl lol. Govt and cartel in Mexico seem to be the only entities with any say there.
a part of the subway broke and fell in Mexico city with many wounded and dead because it was poorly constructed and taken care of by the goverment. Guess what happened? NOTHING AT ALL. It happened in May and there's still no official responsable of it and investigations are still allegedly going and nothing is going to happen. The goverment is super corrupt at any level and they'll keep hidding their mistakes like they always had. It doesn't matter who's in charge. It's still always the same.
My dad was near the accident area that day and he was helping the survivors taking them to he hospital, he was a bus driver…. In the secretary of transportation they have his picture on a wall
This story makes me so SO mad! Those poor people who lost loved ones, houses and limbs through no fault of their own, but through the sheer arrogance and incompetence of the company fat cats. The fact that the four directors walked away scot free is not only staggering but disgusting. On top of that, Pemex has the audacity to deny responsibility in the face of irrefutable evidence is just unacceptable. They should be held to account for their monumental ambivalence towards human life.
Mexico has seen so many enormous disasters, and every time I am amazed at how quickly and selflessly citizens act. It breaks my heart that those in charge do not share these values. I’m Mexican and live two hours away from Guadalajara, and had never heard of this. Seeing as it involves Pemex, I’m not really surprised
As a Texan this makes me sad. I remember when Katrina hit and the hurricanes a couple years back and Mexico sent their army to help us search/clear and rebuild, I wish I could return the favor to them
I was a kid when my dad told me about this. What I remember the most is that he said he never forgot the smell as he would walk to and from work the days leading up to this and he would see what he thought was steam coming from the sewers. He heard explosions in the morning it happened and felt the ground shake where he worked (he worked at a machine shop near the area) and since there was no way for him to walk around at the time, he would have to walk through paths they dug out through the rubble to get to work. He said it smelled like "death". He was around 17 when it happened.
you should do the Stardust Fire in Dublin valentines day 1981. 48 people died. they originally said it was arson, putting blame on the victims and the owners even got a pay out. subsequent inquests and investigations found that it was not arson, the club breached fire safety and they even chained the exit doors stopping people escaping. there is a song by Christy Moore about the blaze.
Still an open investigation as they families keep fighting for the rights of their lost loved ones . My other half’s parents where meant too be there that night but didn’t get too go thankfully !
I was watching a video with a survivor's testimony, saying that she could count around 200 corpses in only one block, and that she has a magazine with a picture of a dead lady from the incident with the number 956, which implies the number of deaths was way higher than published.
I wish more institutions inculcated a culture of questioning authority and communal decision making. When you reached the part about workers being "not authorised to order an evacuation", I immediately thought of the changes to plane cabin culture following the Tenerife disaster, allowing all staff to question the captain's decisions. Outstanding content as ever. Thank you for your hard work!
you assume human life is worth it too American company's. the country has allowed and encouraged anything but for over 85 years. there is a reason the US workforce is having problems. we wont be used anymore. but the system wont change fast enough. and its an uphill battle trying too take back any wealth from our leaders. and the 0.1% are our leaders. they fund our wars and more. and then instead of healthcare or info structure which needs over 4trillion by 2030....we fund them back :)
FeedMeSalt This video was about a disaster in Mexico, involving a Mexican company and the local government of a Mexican city. So naturally it’s an opportunity for you to complain about a different country.
When 2 metals are coming together or are touching one another in a plumbing application electrolysis can happen basically infecting and then corroding that area of pipe. Thats why there must be a buffer between the two like a plastic or hard rubber sleeve to prevent this from happening. It would have cost almost nothing...
Y E S ... I hate the fact that they had some idiot plumb it that way, or that they told the person to just do it that way, presumably to save costs. It's a BASIC plumbing fact. It makes me very angry that it happened to begin with. I'm surprised they didn't blame the fitter or contractor.
@@daffers2345 thank you..yes many lives could have been saved with the use of a plastic sleeve because you also must know that no matter what application...pipes move..a lot. Even when there is a gas going through them so preferably a thick plastic or hard rubber type object that is made to prevent this very incident. Also I am sure they would be happy to blame it on the fitter. I'm not familiar with this incident per say but it must have been very obvious that it was the design of the system
@@joeleyendecker5346 no I'm not sure when that system was put in but another commenter was citing some flaws in the design leading me to believe it hadn't been there a very long time but I can't say for sure
@@Jason5000 Thx for your interest and imput. You know I was also wondering if any "Code Inspections" for Permits were done during construction. Apparently not...lol. Doesn't seem like it....Even I know that Pipes containing Gasoline and Piped containing Water should be buried NO WHERE near each other. There must have been some "Under the Table 'Cash'-ola" in lieu of a 'Permit' " going on there....if inspections were even required. Not to mention, even an idiot should know that a reaction would eventually take place. I only took a semester of Chemistry and knew about putting two different metals like that under ground would eventually cause corrosion... smh
I remember watching an episode of Seconds from Disaster on this, it was utterly maddening. Speaking of which, maybe the Puerto Rico Gas Explosion would be an interesting topic?
Is the gas explosion from seconds from disaster the one where that lady had a broken neck, but couldn't afford treatment so was in pain all the time and was crying during her interviews? Poor lady, heartbreaking. If not that particular disaster it was definitely on that series at some point. Disgusting how people weren't looked after by the authorities
When I was a teenager there was a gas leak in my neighborhood in an apartment complex that was next to ours and the gas company came out and they told everybody that it was okay to go back into their homes. And not even 10 minutes later there was an explosion that injured 13 people fortunately nobody was killed.
It’s disgusting how often city officials ignore the concerns of the people who live in these places. There never seems to be any punishment for these knuckleheads either. Well- at least not here on earth anyway.
@@micheleshively8557 Meh. Karma usually waits until the event in question is an irrelevant memory before it strikes so to me its a shitty form of justice
@@MasterHaloOne You've got THAT right; they are elite occultists, which gives them immunity from being brought to any legal justice for their nonsensical negligence. They also need (ritual) blood sacrifices on a regular basis, which is why horrendous "accidents" like these are often allowed to occur. 🤢
I've always loved how you tell these stories. There is a perfect balance of being able to stress how terrible the disaster was and how it affected people's lives for decades to come, while not exaggerating the story to the point it feels like I'm watching someone's tragedy as entertainment. I like how you respect people by giving a voice to their struggles and follow up on how/if they were compensated and telling about how things have been changed in the wake of the disaster. Gives these tales a sort of resolution
My dad works in planning new water supply and waste water systems for cities. They actually consider this type of stuff, since sewers can spontaneously explode if not working properly and people send all types of unpredictable stuff down the drain. It's always surprising how something we sort of take for granted could easily kill us and is actually a really complex engineering project.
My mom lived two houses away from where the explosion ended. She sometimes still has nightmares of the people that she saw begging for help. She was studying nursing and helped as much as she could, but she was horrified and ultimately quit because no one really was blamed. It is also very true that in Mexico most activists that complain to the gov about stuff “disappear” so we tend to not do much noise 😢
Almost the same thing happened in Kaohsiung Taiwan in 2014. Multiple streets destroyed by a propene gas leak into the sewers. And once again it was the state petroleum company CPC who built the pipeline under the city, though it was privately operated by a petrochemical company LCY. 32 died and 321 injured.
This is why you always have to have your own vehicle and your own money (cash, small bills. There won't be any ATM working, nor credit cards. Nobody will be able to give you change, either) Look at Katrina for results on waiting for government to come save you.
Caveat: Whenever the government advises something, believe just the OPPOSITE of it. Case in point... this current health crisis, which has been plaguing us for the past 18 months, or a year and a half, 1.5/1½, now.
Back in 2016, for my 18th birthday, my mother took me on a cruise trip to Mexico, her home country. Along the trip, we docked at Guadalajara, and I had a conversation with a nice old man at a restaurant who told me about the city's history. This was how I first found out about this disaster.
???? Maybe you are thinking of Puerto Vallarta? GDL is several hours from the coast, and neither of the two rivers that run next to it are passable in boats.
I'd love to see you cover the Bath School Massacre from Bath, Michigan. Little known awful moment in history, even to those who live in Michigan. I love your work!
@George Brisk The Bath School Disaster/Bath School Massacre happened May 18, 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan. A man named Andrew Kehoe killed 38 elementary age school kids and 6 adults while injuring an additional 58. Kehoe was angry about the increase in taxes, losing the election for Township Clerk, and that his farm was being foreclosed. He snuck explosives into the schoolhouse and luckily only half of them went off, destroying the north wing but sparing the south wing. Kehoe drove to the school after the explosion as people tried to rescue people from the debris and exploded his car while inside it to impede the rescue attempts/kill more people.
@@TheLadyCreepypasta sounds like a real piece of work that bastard is. Bastard couldnt accept the fact that life will give you shit sometimes. sounds like unfortunate luck but that's nothing to mass murder lives. heartless that's what.
1:45 What I heard was "Cats would spit and sputter, emitting a liquid that smelled disturbingly like gasoline." Having two cats, I thought that sounded accurate, even if it didn't make sense in the context of an actual explosion.
If I was you, I'd watch those cats like a hawk, they're definitely planning something. Have you left them anything in your will, and do they know the contents of your will ? Having been tricked by a cat once before, I'm now wary of the little purring four legged con merchants. Sleep with one eye open and good luck.
@@janefrost1856 I did plan on leaving them the catnip farm, but maybe it's time to reconsider. I had thought they just use allergies if they wanted me dead, but now I'm starting to have questions
Thank you for sharing our story. I was a senior in high school when it happened. My school, “La Vocacional” (as was colloquially known), was only a little block away from one of the streets which blew up. Luckily we were on holidays, otherwise MANY of us would have gotten killed that day. I also remembered my uncle took us on a excursion to a place we’re there was a little dam, and at the time of the explosion we could feel the floor slightly shaking and later a big cloud of dust came our way; we had no idea it was the explosion 💥 :(
@@mariadelosangelesmendozade664 No Maria, la Voca esta en Marcelino Garcia Barragan, en la Col. Olímpica. Si caminas 2 cuadritas llegas a una igleasia en 5 de Febrero. La explocion se vino por Rio Suchiate y si mal no recuerdo, llego hasta por la iglesia😕
Many people in the US will have never heard of this disaster. Just a few days later the L.A. riots would start and that's all the news focused on for the rest of the year it felt.
I think the news should have focused more on this than the riots. Maybe less attention for the rioters would have stymied their want for attention and more help for the disaster.
I was wondering if this was going to be the story of someone illicitly disposing of cooking oil and causing a massive disaster... That was the "blurb" I seemed to recall about it on CNN way back when "Cable TV" was still a status symbol and CNN's early growing pains were still a novelty... At least, such was the "public supposition" when they seemed to forget Mexico existed for the L.A. riots... and then yep... nothing but 24/7 "riots" in the news... I'd wondered for years how cooking oil or grease could smell like gasoline... AND then of course... forgotten since I was a dumb-ass kid in 92, and not up for a hobby of "research" for verification. SO the "correct answer" would be that cooking oil and grease DO NOT smell like gasoline. Gasoline smells like gasoline... and can be devastating when mixed with errant sparks or open flame. If you ever smell gasoline AND see white "fog" or "smoke"... yeah, get THE HELL out of there. That's the fuel-air mix that explodes... not just a flash-over and burn... a BIG f***ing BOOM! That's what pushes a couple tons of metal down the road every day at ridiculous amounts of speed... INSIDE car engines. You do NOT want to mess around with it OUTSIDE of an engine. ;o)
I remember this. I was 11 living in Guadalajara. We were not near the area affected but yes… it was scary. The sound of the explosions travelled through and all you could hear all day was ambulances. It was a very dark time
my family is from Guadalajara and lived relatively close to the site, i grew up passing through Colonia Atlas and hearing about this day. Im glad theres a video about it!! great work
Can we have just one of these where the people responsible are put away, the victims are reasonably compensated, and the negligent officials are immediately removed from office? ?
Mexican here. I lived in GDL when the explosions came. We were a few Kms away and all the city manholes were pulled out. The noises the thing made and seeing the charred bodies in live TV was one of the scariest things we've experienced. Worse when my father worked kinda close to the Gante street (which was one of the most affected). Also ironically.. the cost cuts done to the PEMEX company, is what indirectly caused these.. shortcuts on maintenance, equipment and crew. This came as the "neoliberalism" (aka the Mexican version of reaganomics) fully pushed into Mexico to dismantle all government owned institutions to sell to private interests that were friends with the political leader in turn. At a ridiculous low price of course..
No. You are wrong. The real guilty was the commercial guys of PEMEX who were stealing gasoline. They receive the alert for a auditory and received the order from Commercial Director to release it to waterwaters sinks. That man was Francisco Jiménez Espriu. The same one that has the contract to transport gasoline in car pipes. Confident man to AMLO and former leftist and very corrupt politician.
@@matiassantaana5392 irony that everyone loves to throw Obrador's name now just to be the favorite punching bag. Ironically Lopez had nothing to do with this as he was busy in Tabasco fighting the CFE. "former leftist". Also irony that you mention leftists with the illegal selling of gasoline outside of PEMEX own channels. Because thats what PANism bolstered and build to destroy pemex during the governments of Vicente Fox and Calderon. Where a gigantic shadow company was milking PEMEX dry and made millonaires to many mexican "investors" in outside places. Hilariously, after they were gone. PEMEX's production levels stared to improve, showcasing that there was an outright cynical agenda to bankrupt PEMEX to sell to foreign interests just like their predecessors did with TELMEX, BANKS and many more. Again, following reaganomics and dirty corrupt of the top echelon of neoliberal economics politicians and corporates.
Whether a company is privately owned or a government owned utility, oversight for safety and culpability/punishment for negligence is a prerequisite to insure public safety, if not PERFECTLY, at least MAXIMALLY!
I remember this day. I was 11 and living in the US, but my grandfather was working for the Mexican IRS. We had spoken to my grandmother in Mexico City about a week before this event, and she mentioned that my grandfather would be getting dispatched to Guadalajara the next day, and he would be there for about a week. When the news broke of the explosions, we tried calling to find out if my grandfather had been in the city when the disaster happened. At the time, there were only a limited number of calls from the US to Mexico that could be placed at any given time, and if all lines were busy you had to try again later. It took until the next day for my mom to get through to my grandmother, and to find out that my grandfather's dispatch had been changed at the last moment, and he was in another city. That was a very stressful day and a half for my family.
I'm from Guadalajara, my parents lived the explotion. Also the explotion was really near my grandma's home. I borned 2 years later. The Colonia Atlas was were my dad grow.
This is amazing, i'm from GDL. I ride my bike every day through these streets... I was six years old when this happened. Thanks so much for making this known around the world. Cheers!
This story reminds me of the Olympic pipeline explosion of 1999 in Bellingham WA. Gas leak, fire, destruction, loss of life... I'd be interesting to hear you do a story on that. I do so look forward to an upload from my favorite horror channel! Keep up the good work!
I was on the disaster investigation team one year after the explosion. My first day on site was April 22, 1993 and the destruction was still evident in many areas. As the evidence pointed towards PEMEX, we were told they could not be the source since they had diesel fuel in their transmission lines. (Later we heard PEMEX changed the flow from gasoline to diesel right after the explosion.) As a result of our investigation we found one (1) fuel station that was leaking diesel into shallow soils and COESA wanted to charge them. We also discovered more than 20 feet of free diesel fuel on top of the groundwater supply in Parque Aqua Azul but were told that was not part of our scope. The toll this disaster took on the population of Guadalajara was clear and the scars remain in place today. I offer my prayers for the residents and hope such an event never happens again.
Man, this one still knocks me flat. There's a Seconds from Disaster documentary about this event that I saw a while ago, but I forgot how bad it was. And most of the lives could have been saved.
I'm Mexican, 25, and I've never in my entire life heard about this incident. I just asked my mom, who was in Sonora at the time, and she was like "oh yeah, it was years ago. I don't remember the details but many people died." I'm surprised this isn't a topic widely discussed in schools or anywhere outside of Jalisco for that matter.
@@DVeritas has nothing to do with whether the company is public or private, they both would rather settle and compensate victims monetarily than take any responsibility for something they did wrong.
No they didn’t compensate victims they provided only some money. And they never took blame. I’m not sure why you find that contradictory it’s common in the United States. Look at the Sackler family. They are paying billions and still claiming they did nothing wrong. After two federal indictments.
The total lack of accountability in governments and corporations is sickening. And the repercussions of this is becoming more dire every day, and on a global, cultural, political, sociological, biological and ecological level that is truly frightening.
Absolutely appalling how this whole thing was handled from beginning to end and as per usual none of the responsible faced any real consequence, predictable but still infuriating.
When I first saw the title of this channel, I was put off. I ignored the algorithm many times. Finally, I clicked one day. I have to say that your presentations are excellent. They are well researched, respectful, lack sensationalism, and are educational. I have learned about many lesser known events through this channel. Great work! You're doing the job that the History channel once did, but is failing to do these days.
My great uncle was a trucker who ran from southern texas through mexico into the mid 80s, one of his primary stops was Guadalajara. He had friends in this tragedy. My mom told me she can remember when he got word of the disaster, he searched through newspapers for who was killed. He lost 2 friends that day and drove down the next week to see his other friends and their families and helped rebuild what he could. Im glad you decided to do a video on this because the politicians would prefer to bury this disaster
I’ve heard so many horror stories directly from people who were involved in the incident and lost loved ones in the explosions. It’s one of the most horrible things I’ve heard about, amazing video
State-owned stuff can be very bad _when the government is more plutocracy than democracy._ I do have a thought: Worker-owned cooperative businesses have a distinct motivation not to harm the community, *because they are a part of the community.* Whereas any business controlled exclusively by people who don't live in a given community? And who make more money by cutting corners with safety and environmental hazards? Well, logically they're highly likely to harm people, they have a financial incentive to do so. It usually pays off to do so, because the government is generally on their side (rich people have more "power coupons"$$$$)
@@grmpEqweer "Worker-owned cooperative businesses have a distinct motivation not to harm the community, because they are a part of the community." And we've seen just how well these cooperatives work out in the real world. BTW - most companies really do make a good faith effort to operate safely and not cause environmental damage. This is why the largest environmental disaster in the US over the past couple of decades was caused by the EPA. (Who then declared 'sovereign immunity' so the communities harmed by their negligence cannot sue them.) Want to make a guess as to how many people at the EPA were fired or punished over this? (Hint: the number is less than one.) Go watch PDs video about the Love Canal disaster. The only people who did the 'right thing' was the company that was blamed for the disaster. The city govrenment, the county govrenment, the school district, etc. all violated the stipulation in the deed that the area was not to house any structures.
I was born in Guadalajara, lived there until the age of 6. Went back every year for 2-3 week vacation. Even lived there when I was a teenager for about 3 years. Never once have I heard of this. How devastating it is to just think that the actions of the government lead to so many unwarranted deaths.
I'm not embarrassed to admit that I just had an Outkast flashback, heh. (Apologies if inappropriate - I'm just as horrified by this story as the next person!)
A similar event occurred 11 years prior to this one in 1981. Known as "The Day the Sewers Exploded," on February 13, 1981, miles of downtown streets erupted in explosions in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Long story short, Ralston Purina had a plant in the city since the 1950s, and had been processing soy beans, extracting protein from them. The plant used a potent solvent, hexane, as part of this process. Unfortunately, there had been a leak of this solvent on site, and hexane built up in the sewers. The morning of February 13, 1981 a car let off a spark as it was passing over a manhole cover, instantly igniting the built up hexane causing the series of explosions. It ejected several manhole covers, including the one where the spark occurred flipping the car that sparked it, along with concrete, and other debris and fragments leaving huge trenches of exposed sewer lines.
"Don't worry It's not going to explode" I would've panicked after they said it's not going to explode because where did they explode come from unless it's going to explode
I never expected this disaster to make it to this channel. Excellent video, even as a mexican myself i didn’t know much about this beside a seconds from disaster chapter. Now as suggestions, i would like a video about the cdmx metro linea 12, the lobohombo disco or the mv Princess of the stars (This last one is from Philippines but is still a very strong candidate for a video)
Very interesting . I've never heard about this before. The people who had to deal with this are the ones that didn't get enough help. City officials doing there best to blame others while the problem grew bigger and bigger. Sounds like our own government in many ways. But instead of gas and sewer, it's money issues. Power corrupts absolutely. The love of money is the root of all evil. Evil backwards is live. Thanks FH
As someone who recently discovered your channel, permit me to express my thanks for bringing these incidents to the attention of those who might not know about them and encourage better attention to safety. At some point in the future, I hope you might cover the Wellington Avalanche of 1910. The book The White Cascade covers it quite well and offers numerous primary source citations and pictures if you wanted a starting point for that.
That's a failure on the people's part for not going the extra mile to demand justice like idk replacing the entire f**king government as many times as it takes to get some decent people in there.
I spent the summer of 1977 in Guadalajara, studying Spanish. I've tried to keep up with news about the city over the years, but somehow I never heard about this. What a horrible tragedy!
I loved you channel before this content but even more so now. It's interesting to see someone research an event you're tied to well and inform audiences in a respectful and interesting way. This was before I was born, but my father actually managed to escape some of the explosions, and I believe I lost some relatives to it. I'd reccomend learning more the flooding of 1978 in tijuana,it affected both Mexico and California.
I’ve recommended you to my law teacher as we’ve covered several of the disasters (Free Enterprise for example) as they fall under corporate manslaughter.
I finished all your videos in just few days and now I have to wait for new ones. Amazing work that you’re doing here. I’m so glad that I found your channel.
Wow! My mom must have seen this on the news while recovering in the hospital after giving birth to me. She must have been as shocked by this as I am now! I was born on the 18th of that year.
She was probably too busy dealing with your b-a to know anything about guadalerharo Mexico. She was home by then unless your head is the size of a watermelon lol
April 22 was my due date! I'm glad I decided I needed another week in the womb. I've never heard of this incident. It makes me sad to know that people have been suffering the effects of it for as long as I've been alive.
I’m actually really fascinated by disasters pregnant and recovering mothers witness on tv while lounging. With my first I saw a horrifying fireworks store disaster where some POS set off a firework and within minutes the joint was “knee deep in human ash” according to the broadcast. My last was a newborn during Fukushima. ETA: it goes to show how middle children get forgotten; I was a few weeks from my due date when Katrina happened.
I'm from Guadalajara, I'm flattered to see someone talk about this! Not even a lot of people who live here talk about the explosions a lot I wasn't born when this happened but my family members that were tell they lived in constant paranoia of it happening near their homes, actually to this day it's still a big fear for a lot of people who live near the area where that happened One of the worst events this city has seen Great video! Keep it up :)
Knowing how explosive gas fumes are I'm surprised people didn't leave the area of their own accord. One cup of gasoline fumes can explode with the force of two sticks of dynamite.
@@beer1for2break3fast4 It appears to have happened in a fairly poor neighbourhood where the luxury of leaving wasn't something most of those households could have afforded.
If you're interested in more mexican disasters (of which there are many) I recommend you research the Guarderia ABC fire. It was a totally preventable fire in a day care in which 49 children died. Surely one of the worst tragedies we've ever faced. I'm mexican and I love my country, but it can be a very, very tragic place. So many preventable deaths. So much impunity and corruption.
I remember this. I lived there but I was vacationing with my family and I remember everyone gathering around the tv to watch the news. My parents called everyone they could think of just to check if everyone was ok. The level of devastation can’t even be explained and we all know there were thousands of people that died that day. They were just buried underneath the new streets and buildings.
Same type incident happened in Louisville, Ky about the same year. Purina animal food had released a combustible chemical into the sewer system I was in high school at the time the sewers blew up. Luckily the explosion happened in the early AM.
Woah. I'm Mexican and this is the first time I hear about this disaster. Granted, I was six in 1992 and live in another state but still... Think at that age I had heard more about the San Juanico Disaster from 1984 than this one. Pemex's negligence and close-to-zero accountability in many of these cases is infuriating.
I remember asking for this video a while ago, thank you so much for posting this. As a mexican, I was shocked that I never heard about it until a few years ago.
Fun story, I was just a 3 yo at this time, my family often went to Puerto Vallarta for vacation, and we always drove through Guadalajara to get there. Around this time we did the trip, and my dad was weirded out because many of the streets that he drove by were deserted, which was unusual for such a busy city that he knew very well since he studied there. Anyway, we continued on our way eventually reaching our destination. It wasn't until he got to the hotel that he caught the news on TV about this disaster, as it happened, we had driven through the area like a day or two after the incident and it was deserted because people expected more explosions to happen, somehow my dad managed to drive through an expected disaster zone unawares of what was happening. Luckily, nothing happened. Also, I know it's an American thing to make Mexico look like a big pueblo where people ride donkeys but seriously, 2 universities? Guadalajara is huge and dwarves many US cities and has almost 300 universities between public and private institutions. Probably a lot less in the early 90s but probably not just 2.
I feel your pain about your country being seen as one giant, backward backwater. I am Australian and the two most common questions I am asked by internet strangers are 1. Do you have a kangaroo? (It's illegal to keep wildlife in backyards in Australia.) and 2. Do you even speak English down there? (From people who have just read something I have written in perfect English.) Sigh.
Not that it’s really grammatically or logically correct, universities here are often meant to mean the very high enrollment locations. In Los Angeles, there are of course a very high number of campuses. But if asked what universities, many might only say UCLA and USC. Other schools would be colleges. Again, totally inaccurate. But that’s the USA for you lol
I remember being absolutely horrified after reading about this event a few years back. I had no knowledge of it happening at the time, despite being a teenager around the time it happened. What an absolute travesty all around.
I remember the tragedy, I watched the news while it was happening and everyone was shocked. For a while, many people I know were scared by any smell of gas or gasoline that we caught while walking or at home. It is really sad that the survivors were left without any real help, but sadly Mexico was and STILL IS, a very corrupt country. Let's hope a tragedy like this never repeats itself. Thank your for bringing this event to memory, I'm sure many people in Mexico are unaware of it, By the way, maybe you can talk about the oil pipeline explosion in Hidalgo, Mexico, it happened in January 18, 2019. Some people damaged the pipeline in order to steal gasoline and, as expected, exploded. It may be an interesting topic
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Pemex has been involved in a few different disasters over the years. One of the worst is the San Juanico Disaster. More on that here: ruclips.net/video/I23Cf-T8E8Y/видео.html
You're a jew, but you will not take pemex for larry fink. You'll die jew if you try
Far too many of these horror scenarios end with almost zero accountability. It's disgusting and endlessly frustrating.
Accountability comes in the form of a Hot lead injection, but people are pathetic and won't do what is necessary!
The advantage of being a rich guy in a suit.
Just shows how much power coporations have and how much power money has over people
It’s all your fault
Lmao, accountability in Mexico?
My mom and her family lived in Guadalajara when this happened. My uncle was out that day and my grandfather went out combing the streets to see if he was safe. My uncle said he had to run from the blasts. He said he’d never run that fast before and that it was all a blur. He was about 14 at the time and he was okay in the end.
Se la rifó tu tío
I could not imagine what your grandfather was going through when out to look for a 14 year old in an exploding city. Glad everyone was safe and that your family is currently ok!
Thank God 🎉
I live in Guadalajara, I was 11 yo when this happened, we never forget it, thank you for this video, it was very accurate and respectful greetings from Mexico
I hope you, your family and friends have made or will make a full recovery from it. It was frightening enough to watch on the news, so it must have been utterly terrifying to an 11 year old living in that city.
This was all over the U S news , unbelievable.
God Bless You
1
💙
Guadalajara is my hometown. This happened a couple years before I was born, but I’ve been told so many stories about the horrors of that day. I remember they told me that an uncle of my mom had a business so he had a few vans, but when the explosions happened, one of the drivers asked my uncle if he could use the van to pick up bodies (emergency services were so saturated that civilians started to help on their own). He spent the next three days filling the van with bodies and bringing them to temporary forensic centers that were sometimes located on sport centers because hospitals were collapsed. The driver ended up so traumatized that he spent weeks on medical leave. And like that, I’ve heard a few stories from my own family and teachers. The incompetence that led to this tragedy and zero accountability is still something that makes people sore.
Todos mis sentimientos para con vuestro pueblo y gente por semejante catastrofe.
now for some regulations, written in blood.
I have friends from Guadalajara who have talked about these explosions and the devastation. So sad that those affected have not been adequately compensated.
@@feiwong3634 te agradezco
That in itself is a tragedy. So sad...
I never expected this channel to cover this incident, it's a pleasant surprise as not many people outside of Mexico know about it. My family has lived in Guadalajara for many years and they all have their own story to tell about the 92' explosions. An uncle of mine always tells the story of how his car ended up in someone's rooftop 3 blocks away from where he parked it.
Damn !! Glad he is alive ! ✔️☺️👋
Wow that speaks volumes of how strong the explosions were
Many of us do: ruclips.net/video/WkQGKlCQB3w/видео.htmlsi=c3kT6DQ6dRCIf-D1
Yo soy de México y nunca había escuchado sobre esto. Me alegra haber encontrado este video
*”He decided he wouldn’t evacuate, because it would be too costly and disruptive.”*
Yeah……as opposed to a city accidentally being turned into the worlds largest *Molotov Cocktail….* 😒🤦♀️
Mexico's presidents have a reputation on being negligent and assholes, i would now since i live there and sadly most of the population like this kind of idiots
As the saying goes, if you think safety is expensive, try accidents
Turns out blowing up half of the city and killing hundreds was indeed the cheaper option for the company in charge. Such is the extent of general corruption, nepotism, corporate and political malfeasance in the world, as a matter of routine (and not just in Mexico).
@@5amH45lam Amen
It's ALWAYS about money somewhere.
I remember admiring brother when I was little after my parents told me that when he was a teen he volunteered to rescue people as soon as the explosions stopped, I was a baby and we were not in town when this happened, he was my older brother so he stayed home alone to take care of the house, none of my family were affected by the explosions so it was really cool that he spent days helping strangers.
Glad your brother and your whole family was safe ❤
your brother is a real mvp, tell him he's cool as fuck to help people.
life is tough in mexico and theres so much violence, corruption and apathetic government. it brings a smile to my face when people still trying to their part in doing good in this hard world. rock on my dude
I'm a 27 years old Mexican, living in the northeast part of the country, and I have never hear about this accident. Thanks dear foregneir! Now I know a little more about my own country.
It looks like a beautiful city!
¿Es en serio?, Bueno, tienes razón no fueron en tus años. En mi caso si me tocó y todos estaban de no maaaaaaa.
There's a Seconds From Disaster episode on RUclips about this that goes into more depth. Seconds From Disaster S01E08 Inferno In Guadalajara is the title. You'll see there's two identical uploads; one has a British narrator for UK syndication, the other with an American for US viewers (the British one has much better narration, IMO, and find it sad they had to redub it for us.) _Buenos dias_ from St. Louis, Missouri, US.
@@marxan10 como nací después de este accidente, pues me lo perdí cuando pasó, verdad. Pero se me hace extraño que no salieran noticias o artículos de lo sucedido, así como lo del terremoto del 86. Digo, no quiero crear teorías conspirativas, pero creo que Pemex tuvo que ver en algo.
@@Kenopsys No vivo en Mexico, pero te puedo decir que cosas asi se esconden para que nadie se acuerde. Pemex tiene un monopolio en el paiz, obvio que no se va a publicar las cosas malas que hacen. No es una teoria conspirativa.
my grandparent just to live in one of the streets that exploded, was horrible, i was in middle school at the time, the explosion was heard all over the city, both my grandparents survived but the scene was awful, my grandpa lived there since he was little and he wrote a book about it, is call "Analco Ayer...hoy Y Siempre" by Francisco Escalante Moreno, is very interesting, has some before and after pictures
I haven't read that book but I'm sure I've heard about it, never knew what it was about, I'm curious now. Do you now what editorial sells it?
Very interesting, thank you! I’m glad your grandparents survived.
Well that was just depressing how the affected citizens got absolutely screwed over
You'd be surprised how often it happens.
Mexican goverment literally does nothing
@ghost mall It's not really corrupt any more. Crime is legal there now, so it's not corruption.
@ghost mall the root problem in Mexico and much of Central and South America is a long-standing Spanish tradition known as Patronage. It’s deeply embedded in Latin Politics such that it forms the backbone of the political parties. And yes I know the patronage and cronyism exist in any political system. But the Patronage of the Spanish tradition is much more deeply embedded formalized and normalized.
Mexican govt and the drug cartels are the same entities. I wouldnt expect them to care.
It was an accident. Its not like anyone did this on purpose. PEMEX was found to be at fault because they had money. The cooking oil factory couldn't hand out award money.
I’m from Guadalajara
My dad participated in the rescue operations of the explosion
He always told me story’s about how disastrous it was, the government never reported the real amount of dead people, they even gave up on recovering some of the bodies and just build the new streets on top of them
Well that's just rude
No wonder why some streets are haunted nowadays
Unfortunately, that's very typical of Mexico.
@@PepperMistAnimations Racist!
What a shocker. I'd never heard of this disaster before. How could Pemex ignore the impending explosions or deny responsibility for it? The residents of Guadalajara deserve more than what they received in help
Mmmmmmhm... welcome to Mexico my friend. =)
@@ScumfuckMcDoucheface anywhere where the people in power are bought off. Basically everywhere. Oil companies destroy ecosystems daily. They don’t care about damage to some city biome.
@@orangeapples sad but true man =/
@@ScumfuckMcDoucheface I'm Mexican an this is the first time i hear about this.
Why I have to discover something like this on an foreign chanel?
@@bafi29 hahaha... because your government is too corrupt to allow any kind of true information into the country to its citizens =) sorry friend... viva la Mexico
My mother lived in Guadalajara when this disaster happened, she lived in the district just beside where the explosion happened. She was in her 20s and the trauma of the event still affects her. The thought of gas and gas heating/stoves or gas energy makes her nervous and she refuses to buy a home that uses gas even now after decades and moving to a new country.
That is insane that the Pemex officials got off with no punishment and that the company wasn't forced to pay what they should have! I hope that someday soon the survivors get what they are entitled to.
Stuff like this should be grounds for public hanging. Negligence was bad enough on their part, but their continued willful dismissal of any wrongdoing both before and after the disaster is just straight up inhuman.
@@derek96720 yes but money talks very loud, especially amongst corrupted government ears
You can hope til you turn blue it’s not going to do anything for these ppl lol. Govt and cartel in Mexico seem to be the only entities with any say there.
a part of the subway broke and fell in Mexico city with many wounded and dead because it was poorly constructed and taken care of by the goverment. Guess what happened? NOTHING AT ALL. It happened in May and there's still no official responsable of it and investigations are still allegedly going and nothing is going to happen. The goverment is super corrupt at any level and they'll keep hidding their mistakes like they always had. It doesn't matter who's in charge. It's still always the same.
An entire country run by a corrupt government with dirty cops paid by the cartel. I'm surprised they paid anything at all.
My dad was near the accident area that day and he was helping the survivors taking them to he hospital, he was a bus driver…. In the secretary of transportation they have his picture on a wall
Your Dad is amazing! ❤️❤️❤️
@@cruisepaige thanks…. I was only 2 y/o when that happened, but he used to tell me the story
Give your dad my love. He did good ❤
@@felicitybywater8012 I will… thanks
Héroe.
This story makes me so SO mad!
Those poor people who lost loved ones, houses and limbs through no fault of their own, but through the sheer arrogance and incompetence of the company fat cats. The fact that the four directors walked away scot free is not only staggering but disgusting. On top of that, Pemex has the audacity to deny responsibility in the face of irrefutable evidence is just unacceptable. They should be held to account for their monumental ambivalence towards human life.
As a Mexican, this story represents every day politics and justice here. We are on our own.
Welcome to Mexico! A land where drugs grow large and plentiful in a soil fertilized with murdered bodies!
Mexico has seen so many enormous disasters, and every time I am amazed at how quickly and selflessly citizens act. It breaks my heart that those in charge do not share these values. I’m Mexican and live two hours away from Guadalajara, and had never heard of this. Seeing as it involves Pemex, I’m not really surprised
As a Texan this makes me sad. I remember when Katrina hit and the hurricanes a couple years back and Mexico sent their army to help us search/clear and rebuild, I wish I could return the favor to them
Wdym you're chinese
Jk
You could return the favor by supporting the Partido Comunista de México. Pretty please, Xi 🥺👉👈
Okay Xi Jinping
@@Walamonga1313great uncalled for racist joke
@@yas-ob4hd They’re literally just making a joke about their pfp and name, chill
I was a kid when my dad told me about this. What I remember the most is that he said he never forgot the smell as he would walk to and from work the days leading up to this and he would see what he thought was steam coming from the sewers. He heard explosions in the morning it happened and felt the ground shake where he worked (he worked at a machine shop near the area) and since there was no way for him to walk around at the time, he would have to walk through paths they dug out through the rubble to get to work. He said it smelled like "death". He was around 17 when it happened.
you should do the Stardust Fire in Dublin valentines day 1981. 48 people died. they originally said it was arson, putting blame on the victims and the owners even got a pay out. subsequent inquests and investigations found that it was not arson, the club breached fire safety and they even chained the exit doors stopping people escaping. there is a song by Christy Moore about the blaze.
Still an open investigation as they families keep fighting for the rights of their lost loved ones . My other half’s parents where meant too be there that night but didn’t get too go thankfully !
Ooh. Sounds like The Station nightclub fire over here. I think FH may have covered that one...
@@grmpEqweer people actually went to jail for that b.s.
I think he did that video a long time ago
oh! i love christy moore! i will have to look that up thank you
I was watching a video with a survivor's testimony, saying that she could count around 200 corpses in only one block, and that she has a magazine with a picture of a dead lady from the incident with the number 956, which implies the number of deaths was way higher than published.
My dad went to the morgue (or the gymnasium) because one of his brothers couldn’t be found. He counted more than 900 dead bodies.
I wish more institutions inculcated a culture of questioning authority and communal decision making. When you reached the part about workers being "not authorised to order an evacuation", I immediately thought of the changes to plane cabin culture following the Tenerife disaster, allowing all staff to question the captain's decisions.
Outstanding content as ever. Thank you for your hard work!
you assume human life is worth it too American company's. the country has allowed and encouraged anything but for over 85 years. there is a reason the US workforce is having problems. we wont be used anymore. but the system wont change fast enough. and its an uphill battle trying too take back any wealth from our leaders. and the 0.1% are our leaders. they fund our wars and more. and then instead of healthcare or info structure which needs over 4trillion by 2030....we fund them back :)
FeedMeSalt This video was about a disaster in Mexico, involving a Mexican company and the local government of a Mexican city. So naturally it’s an opportunity for you to complain about a different country.
@@FeedMeSalt The US has all the indicators of a cult. Mass indoctrination, stockpiling of weapons, strange beliefs, delusional leaders.
Great comment🙏
@@FeedMeSalt this took place in Mexico bud
When 2 metals are coming together or are touching one another in a plumbing application electrolysis can happen basically infecting and then corroding that area of pipe. Thats why there must be a buffer between the two like a plastic or hard rubber sleeve to prevent this from happening. It would have cost almost nothing...
Y E S ... I hate the fact that they had some idiot plumb it that way, or that they told the person to just do it that way, presumably to save costs. It's a BASIC plumbing fact. It makes me very angry that it happened to begin with. I'm surprised they didn't blame the fitter or contractor.
@@daffers2345 thank you..yes many lives could have been saved with the use of a plastic sleeve because you also must know that no matter what application...pipes move..a lot. Even when there is a gas going through them so preferably a thick plastic or hard rubber type object that is made to prevent this very incident. Also I am sure they would be happy to blame it on the fitter. I'm not familiar with this incident per say but it must have been very obvious that it was the design of the system
Any idea how long the piping had been there?
@@joeleyendecker5346 no I'm not sure when that system was put in but another commenter was citing some flaws in the design leading me to believe it hadn't been there a very long time but I can't say for sure
@@Jason5000 Thx for your interest and imput.
You know I was also wondering if any "Code Inspections" for Permits were done during construction. Apparently not...lol. Doesn't seem like it....Even I know that Pipes containing Gasoline and Piped containing Water should be buried NO WHERE near each other. There must have been some "Under the Table 'Cash'-ola" in lieu of a 'Permit' " going on there....if inspections were even required.
Not to mention, even an idiot should know that a reaction would eventually take place. I only took a semester of Chemistry and knew about putting two different metals like that under ground would eventually cause corrosion... smh
I remember watching an episode of Seconds from Disaster on this, it was utterly maddening.
Speaking of which, maybe the Puerto Rico Gas Explosion would be an interesting topic?
I have seen the same and agree
I recommend this a while back along with some other disasters such as the Dupont Plaza Hotel arson.
I saw that same Seconds from Disaster episode about this disaster. Feel horrible for everyone who was affected by it. :(
Is the gas explosion from seconds from disaster the one where that lady had a broken neck, but couldn't afford treatment so was in pain all the time and was crying during her interviews?
Poor lady, heartbreaking.
If not that particular disaster it was definitely on that series at some point. Disgusting how people weren't looked after by the authorities
Ahhhh that’s where I seen this…I remembered the Puerto Rico one, And thought I wasn’t remembering correctly…
Fun fact: Pemex is so shit it has the fourth largest debt of any company in the world (2020) while generating a 1.8 billion USD loss in revenue.
Cartels keep tapping into their pipelines
Its working exactly as planned.
@@lewizzrocks that's just one of many reasons, corruption has been the main one since forever ago
That's honestly kind of impressive.
@Infinite Possibilities no, because Pemex is a monopoly and whenever that happens they just raise the gas price
When I was a teenager there was a gas leak in my neighborhood in an apartment complex that was next to ours and the gas company came out and they told everybody that it was okay to go back into their homes. And not even 10 minutes later there was an explosion that injured 13 people fortunately nobody was killed.
And what happened after that?
If you smell rotten eggs, that's natural gas. Time. To. Go.
It's an artificial smell put there for that reason.
Moral of the story: Never believe officials. Do what you think is best.
@@yanirafonseca8013 Your never going to get an answer lol
@@yanirafonseca8013 They all had survivor sex.
Everyone smelled gasoline and everyone knows what gas smells like yet pemex pointed there finger at the cooking oil company 🤨
Why would they use so much gasoline if they are cooking oil company
...and i don't think cooking oil would explode like that...was my first thought. Fuk Pemex out of business.
It’s disgusting how often city officials ignore the concerns of the people who live in these places. There never seems to be any punishment for these knuckleheads either. Well- at least not here on earth anyway.
But...karma's a bitch and they will find out sooner or later
@@micheleshively8557 Meh. Karma usually waits until the event in question is an irrelevant memory before it strikes so to me its a shitty form of justice
@@killman369547 agree. Normally, 0 repercussions at all.
Freemasonry and freemasons have each other's backs for the most part.
@@MasterHaloOne You've got THAT right; they are elite occultists, which gives them immunity from being brought to any legal justice for their nonsensical negligence. They also need (ritual) blood sacrifices on a regular basis, which is why horrendous "accidents" like these are often allowed to occur. 🤢
I've always loved how you tell these stories. There is a perfect balance of being able to stress how terrible the disaster was and how it affected people's lives for decades to come, while not exaggerating the story to the point it feels like I'm watching someone's tragedy as entertainment. I like how you respect people by giving a voice to their struggles and follow up on how/if they were compensated and telling about how things have been changed in the wake of the disaster. Gives these tales a sort of resolution
That's what I like about this channel too.
I look forward to these videos every Tuesday morning!
Same
As do I!
Yes yes yes
So do I xD
That must suck.
For me they're posted ~1 hour before I'd go to sleep so I get to make the most of it
My dad works in planning new water supply and waste water systems for cities. They actually consider this type of stuff, since sewers can spontaneously explode if not working properly and people send all types of unpredictable stuff down the drain.
It's always surprising how something we sort of take for granted could easily kill us and is actually a really complex engineering project.
What an absolutley insane disaster with a predictably infurating ending - another great video
My mom lived two houses away from where the explosion ended. She sometimes still has nightmares of the people that she saw begging for help. She was studying nursing and helped as much as she could, but she was horrified and ultimately quit because no one really was blamed. It is also very true that in Mexico most activists that complain to the gov about stuff “disappear” so we tend to not do much noise 😢
Almost the same thing happened in Kaohsiung Taiwan in 2014. Multiple streets destroyed by a propene gas leak into the sewers. And once again it was the state petroleum company CPC who built the pipeline under the city, though it was privately operated by a petrochemical company LCY. 32 died and 321 injured.
Fascinating Horror should cover this particular story some time in the future.
"A trail of incongruously modern buildings marking the route the devastating blasts took through the city"
Wow that was a good sentence
One thing I've learned in my life about government:
When they tell you to stay calm and remain in place, it's time to pack a bag and go!
Yes, exactly. Otherwise they will be packing you into a body bag.
This is why you always have to have your own vehicle and your own money (cash, small bills. There won't be any ATM working, nor credit cards. Nobody will be able to give you change, either)
Look at Katrina for results on waiting for government to come save you.
..as in the Glenfell tower fire desaster . Scumbags burn in hell.
Caveat: Whenever the government advises something, believe just the OPPOSITE of it. Case in point... this current health crisis, which has been plaguing us for the past 18 months, or a year and a half, 1.5/1½, now.
"We're with the government and we're here to help." The 9 most frightening words
Back in 2016, for my 18th birthday, my mother took me on a cruise trip to Mexico, her home country. Along the trip, we docked at Guadalajara, and I had a conversation with a nice old man at a restaurant who told me about the city's history. This was how I first found out about this disaster.
???? Maybe you are thinking of Puerto Vallarta? GDL is several hours from the coast, and neither of the two rivers that run next to it are passable in boats.
This channel is so underrated never heard of this stuff till watching this channel
I'd love to see you cover the Bath School Massacre from Bath, Michigan. Little known awful moment in history, even to those who live in Michigan. I love your work!
@George Brisk The Bath School Disaster/Bath School Massacre happened May 18, 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan. A man named Andrew Kehoe killed 38 elementary age school kids and 6 adults while injuring an additional 58. Kehoe was angry about the increase in taxes, losing the election for Township Clerk, and that his farm was being foreclosed. He snuck explosives into the schoolhouse and luckily only half of them went off, destroying the north wing but sparing the south wing. Kehoe drove to the school after the explosion as people tried to rescue people from the debris and exploded his car while inside it to impede the rescue attempts/kill more people.
I agree, this needs to be covered.
@@TheLadyCreepypasta sounds like a real piece of work that bastard is. Bastard couldnt accept the fact that life will give you shit sometimes. sounds like unfortunate luck but that's nothing to mass murder lives. heartless that's what.
@@TheLadyCreepypasta God, never heard of it
he hasnt dont a single act of terrorism here. think about it.
1:45 What I heard was "Cats would spit and sputter, emitting a liquid that smelled disturbingly like gasoline." Having two cats, I thought that sounded accurate, even if it didn't make sense in the context of an actual explosion.
If I was you, I'd watch those cats like a hawk, they're definitely planning something. Have you left them anything in your will, and do they know the contents of your will ? Having been tricked by a cat once before, I'm now wary of the little purring four legged con merchants. Sleep with one eye open and good luck.
jane frost 😹😹😹
I think Jane is right, your cats are planning on burning your house down
If my cats were emitting a smell of gasoline, I do believe I'd be reaching for a spray bottle of holy water, that is in no way normal...
@@janefrost1856 I did plan on leaving them the catnip farm, but maybe it's time to reconsider. I had thought they just use allergies if they wanted me dead, but now I'm starting to have questions
Thank you for sharing our story. I was a senior in high school when it happened. My school, “La Vocacional” (as was colloquially known), was only a little block away from one of the streets which blew up. Luckily we were on holidays, otherwise MANY of us would have gotten killed that day. I also remembered my uncle took us on a excursion to a place we’re there was a little dam, and at the time of the explosion we could feel the floor slightly shaking and later a big cloud of dust came our way; we had no idea it was the explosion 💥 :(
I'm glad you were safely out of harm's way ❤
La "Vocacional" es la que estaba en la esquina de 20 de Noviembre y Fray Bartolomé de las Casas?
@@mariadelosangelesmendozade664 No Maria, la Voca esta en Marcelino Garcia Barragan, en la Col. Olímpica. Si caminas 2 cuadritas llegas a una igleasia en 5 de Febrero. La explocion se vino por Rio Suchiate y si mal no recuerdo, llego hasta por la iglesia😕
yo estudié por ahí hace tiempo, vivo a unas cuadras de la exposición, es tan extraño todo
Many people in the US will have never heard of this disaster. Just a few days later the L.A. riots would start and that's all the news focused on for the rest of the year it felt.
I think the news should have focused more on this than the riots. Maybe less attention for the rioters would have stymied their want for
attention and more help for the disaster.
Ahhh that explains it. I was wondering why this wasn't more widely known.
So THAT'S why I never heard of it.
Well that's just infuriating, on top of so many other infuriating things.
I was wondering if this was going to be the story of someone illicitly disposing of cooking oil and causing a massive disaster... That was the "blurb" I seemed to recall about it on CNN way back when "Cable TV" was still a status symbol and CNN's early growing pains were still a novelty...
At least, such was the "public supposition" when they seemed to forget Mexico existed for the L.A. riots... and then yep... nothing but 24/7 "riots" in the news...
I'd wondered for years how cooking oil or grease could smell like gasoline... AND then of course... forgotten since I was a dumb-ass kid in 92, and not up for a hobby of "research" for verification.
SO the "correct answer" would be that cooking oil and grease DO NOT smell like gasoline. Gasoline smells like gasoline... and can be devastating when mixed with errant sparks or open flame.
If you ever smell gasoline AND see white "fog" or "smoke"... yeah, get THE HELL out of there. That's the fuel-air mix that explodes... not just a flash-over and burn... a BIG f***ing BOOM! That's what pushes a couple tons of metal down the road every day at ridiculous amounts of speed... INSIDE car engines.
You do NOT want to mess around with it OUTSIDE of an engine. ;o)
@@virginiaconnor8350 Those darn attention grabbers, always going straight to riots!
That really is fascinating and horrifying. Well done.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families. I can’t imagine.
I work graveyard shifts every Tuesday and Wednesday, and your videos are fantastic for passing the time. Keep up the great work!
Same! I look forward to it on my lunch break.
Excellent channel
I remember this. I was 11 living in Guadalajara. We were not near the area affected but yes… it was scary. The sound of the explosions travelled through and all you could hear all day was ambulances. It was a very dark time
my family is from Guadalajara and lived relatively close to the site, i grew up passing through Colonia Atlas and hearing about this day. Im glad theres a video about it!! great work
Can we have just one of these where the people responsible are put away, the victims are reasonably compensated, and the negligent officials are immediately removed from office? ?
Mexican here. I lived in GDL when the explosions came.
We were a few Kms away and all the city manholes were pulled out. The noises the thing made and seeing the charred bodies in live TV was one of the scariest things we've experienced.
Worse when my father worked kinda close to the Gante street (which was one of the most affected).
Also ironically.. the cost cuts done to the PEMEX company, is what indirectly caused these.. shortcuts on maintenance, equipment and crew.
This came as the "neoliberalism" (aka the Mexican version of reaganomics) fully pushed into Mexico to dismantle all government owned institutions to sell to private interests that were friends with the political leader in turn. At a ridiculous low price of course..
No. You are wrong. The real guilty was the commercial guys of PEMEX who were stealing gasoline. They receive the alert for a auditory and received the order from Commercial Director to release it to waterwaters sinks. That man was Francisco Jiménez Espriu. The same one that has the contract to transport gasoline in car pipes. Confident man to AMLO and former leftist and very corrupt politician.
@@matiassantaana5392 irony that everyone loves to throw Obrador's name now just to be the favorite punching bag. Ironically Lopez had nothing to do with this as he was busy in Tabasco fighting the CFE. "former leftist".
Also irony that you mention leftists with the illegal selling of gasoline outside of PEMEX own channels. Because thats what PANism bolstered and build to destroy pemex during the governments of Vicente Fox and Calderon. Where a gigantic shadow company was milking PEMEX dry and made millonaires to many mexican "investors" in outside places. Hilariously, after they were gone. PEMEX's production levels stared to improve, showcasing that there was an outright cynical agenda to bankrupt PEMEX to sell to foreign interests just like their predecessors did with TELMEX, BANKS and many more. Again, following reaganomics and dirty corrupt of the top echelon of neoliberal economics politicians and corporates.
Whether a company is privately owned or a government owned utility, oversight for safety and culpability/punishment for negligence is a prerequisite to insure public safety, if not PERFECTLY, at least MAXIMALLY!
I remember this day. I was 11 and living in the US, but my grandfather was working for the Mexican IRS. We had spoken to my grandmother in Mexico City about a week before this event, and she mentioned that my grandfather would be getting dispatched to Guadalajara the next day, and he would be there for about a week. When the news broke of the explosions, we tried calling to find out if my grandfather had been in the city when the disaster happened. At the time, there were only a limited number of calls from the US to Mexico that could be placed at any given time, and if all lines were busy you had to try again later. It took until the next day for my mom to get through to my grandmother, and to find out that my grandfather's dispatch had been changed at the last moment, and he was in another city. That was a very stressful day and a half for my family.
I'm from Guadalajara, my parents lived the explotion. Also the explotion was really near my grandma's home. I borned 2 years later. The Colonia Atlas was were my dad grow.
This is amazing, i'm from GDL.
I ride my bike every day through these streets... I was six years old when this happened.
Thanks so much for making this known around the world.
Cheers!
I can't believe I've never heard of this. This is one of the most insane things I've ever learned about.
I remember hearing about it from a "seconds from disaster" episode on NatGeo many years ago.
I bet you never heard of Clade X Pandemic excercise. RUclips it and watch
This story reminds me of the Olympic pipeline explosion of 1999 in Bellingham WA. Gas leak, fire, destruction, loss of life... I'd be interesting to hear you do a story on that. I do so look forward to an upload from my favorite horror channel! Keep up the good work!
I wonder how many brown envelopes changed hands in the weeks and months following the explosions?
I like your badger pic🦡
@@Cynchronicity7 Yes, he's good, isn't he? 😊
I was on the disaster investigation team one year after the explosion. My first day on site was April 22, 1993 and the destruction was still evident in many areas. As the evidence pointed towards PEMEX, we were told they could not be the source since they had diesel fuel in their transmission lines. (Later we heard PEMEX changed the flow from gasoline to diesel right after the explosion.) As a result of our investigation we found one (1) fuel station that was leaking diesel into shallow soils and COESA wanted to charge them. We also discovered more than 20 feet of free diesel fuel on top of the groundwater supply in Parque Aqua Azul but were told that was not part of our scope.
The toll this disaster took on the population of Guadalajara was clear and the scars remain in place today. I offer my prayers for the residents and hope such an event never happens again.
MC, what is COESA? Something estudios ambientales?
Man, this one still knocks me flat. There's a Seconds from Disaster documentary about this event that I saw a while ago, but I forgot how bad it was. And most of the lives could have been saved.
I'm Mexican, 25, and I've never in my entire life heard about this incident. I just asked my mom, who was in Sonora at the time, and she was like "oh yeah, it was years ago. I don't remember the details but many people died." I'm surprised this isn't a topic widely discussed in schools or anywhere outside of Jalisco for that matter.
Wow Pemex compensated victims but never took the blame? That seems pretty contradictory
That's the problem whit public companies, that are run by the government: nobody is made responsible.
@@DVeritas has nothing to do with whether the company is public or private, they both would rather settle and compensate victims monetarily than take any responsibility for something they did wrong.
@@apseudonym. It actually does, but I won't get into details in RUclips.
No they didn’t compensate victims they provided only some money.
And they never took blame.
I’m not sure why you find that contradictory it’s common in the United States. Look at the Sackler family.
They are paying billions and still claiming they did nothing wrong. After two federal indictments.
Welcome to Latin America
-A Latin American btw.
It's pretty rare to find a channel that the quality of work is so consistently high that it becomes a habit to like the video before even watching it!
Was someone expecting trials and prison sentences? Yeah me neither. "Go on folks, cause more disasters! You know you won't be punished anyway!"
The total lack of accountability in governments and corporations is sickening. And the repercussions of this is becoming more dire every day, and on a global, cultural, political, sociological, biological and ecological level that is truly frightening.
@@riandraegon556 thank you
Absolutely appalling how this whole thing was handled from beginning to end and as per usual none of the responsible faced any real consequence, predictable but still infuriating.
I really like the fact that you cover stories that, mostly, I am not familiar with at all. I also love your background music . Keep up the good work.
When I first saw the title of this channel, I was put off. I ignored the algorithm many times. Finally, I clicked one day. I have to say that your presentations are excellent. They are well researched, respectful, lack sensationalism, and are educational. I have learned about many lesser known events through this channel. Great work! You're doing the job that the History channel once did, but is failing to do these days.
Imagine surviving but then having the rubble you're under flattened by a bulldozer!
My great uncle was a trucker who ran from southern texas through mexico into the mid 80s, one of his primary stops was Guadalajara. He had friends in this tragedy. My mom told me she can remember when he got word of the disaster, he searched through newspapers for who was killed. He lost 2 friends that day and drove down the next week to see his other friends and their families and helped rebuild what he could. Im glad you decided to do a video on this because the politicians would prefer to bury this disaster
"Hey guys my eyes are stinging and the sewers are full of gasoline. Should we do something about this?"
" it would be too costly and disruptive to evacuate"
Like H. F. S.!!
I’ve heard so many horror stories directly from people who were involved in the incident and lost loved ones in the explosions. It’s one of the most horrible things I’ve heard about, amazing video
As happens so often big businesses get off with barely a slap on the wrist.
Is even more maddening to think Pemex is state-owned 😤
Pemex is a state owned company created during the administration of socialist President Lázaro Cárdenas, it's like the opposite of big business.
@@cramer4506 Is much worse. Is a monopoly and is backed by the government.
State-owned stuff can be very bad _when the government is more plutocracy than democracy._
I do have a thought:
Worker-owned cooperative businesses have a distinct motivation not to harm the community, *because they are a part of the community.*
Whereas any business controlled exclusively by people who don't live in a given community? And who make more money by cutting corners with safety and environmental hazards?
Well, logically they're highly likely to harm people, they have a financial incentive to do so. It usually pays off to do so, because the government is generally on their side (rich people have more "power coupons"$$$$)
@@grmpEqweer "Worker-owned cooperative businesses have a distinct motivation not to harm the community, because they are a part of the community."
And we've seen just how well these cooperatives work out in the real world. BTW - most companies really do make a good faith effort to operate safely and not cause environmental damage. This is why the largest environmental disaster in the US over the past couple of decades was caused by the EPA. (Who then declared 'sovereign immunity' so the communities harmed by their negligence cannot sue them.)
Want to make a guess as to how many people at the EPA were fired or punished over this? (Hint: the number is less than one.)
Go watch PDs video about the Love Canal disaster. The only people who did the 'right thing' was the company that was blamed for the disaster. The city govrenment, the county govrenment, the school district, etc. all violated the stipulation in the deed that the area was not to house any structures.
I was born in Guadalajara, lived there until the age of 6. Went back every year for 2-3 week vacation. Even lived there when I was a teenager for about 3 years. Never once have I heard of this. How devastating it is to just think that the actions of the government lead to so many unwarranted deaths.
Who doesn't love themselves a good smell of gasoline every now and then, but this went too far :(
I'm not embarrassed to admit that I just had an Outkast flashback, heh. (Apologies if inappropriate - I'm just as horrified by this story as the next person!)
Unsurprising the officials ignored the resident’s complaints....almost like history keeps repeating.
The background music in combination with your voice is perfect for these videos
A similar event occurred 11 years prior to this one in 1981.
Known as "The Day the Sewers Exploded," on February 13, 1981, miles of downtown streets erupted in explosions in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Long story short, Ralston Purina had a plant in the city since the 1950s, and had been processing soy beans, extracting protein from them. The plant used a potent solvent, hexane, as part of this process. Unfortunately, there had been a leak of this solvent on site, and hexane built up in the sewers. The morning of February 13, 1981 a car let off a spark as it was passing over a manhole cover, instantly igniting the built up hexane causing the series of explosions. It ejected several manhole covers, including the one where the spark occurred flipping the car that sparked it, along with concrete, and other debris and fragments leaving huge trenches of exposed sewer lines.
"Don't worry It's not going to explode" I would've panicked after they said it's not going to explode because where did they explode come from unless it's going to explode
Yeah sure
I never expected this disaster to make it to this channel. Excellent video, even as a mexican myself i didn’t know much about this beside a seconds from disaster chapter.
Now as suggestions, i would like a video about the cdmx metro linea 12, the lobohombo disco or the mv Princess of the stars (This last one is from Philippines but is still a very strong candidate for a video)
Very interesting . I've never heard about this before. The people who had to deal with this are the ones that didn't get enough help. City officials doing there best to blame others while the problem grew bigger and bigger. Sounds like our own government in many ways. But instead of gas and sewer, it's money issues. Power corrupts absolutely. The love of money is the root of all evil. Evil backwards is live. Thanks FH
As someone who recently discovered your channel, permit me to express my thanks for bringing these incidents to the attention of those who might not know about them and encourage better attention to safety. At some point in the future, I hope you might cover the Wellington Avalanche of 1910. The book The White Cascade covers it quite well and offers numerous primary source citations and pictures if you wanted a starting point for that.
It's infuriating how often those in authority deny any danger, and those responsible shirk accountability.
That's a failure on the people's part for not going the extra mile to demand justice like idk replacing the entire f**king government as many times as it takes to get some decent people in there.
@@killman369547 Easier said than done, a government has military and police to call on.
I spent the summer of 1977 in Guadalajara, studying Spanish. I've tried to keep up with news about the city over the years, but somehow I never heard about this. What a horrible tragedy!
Im Mexican, very interested in disaster stories, but I have never heard about this before. Thanks for the video.
I almost forgot it was Tuesday seeing this while getting ready to go back to work after the Holiday.
I loved you channel before this content but even more so now. It's interesting to see someone research an event you're tied to well and inform audiences in a respectful and interesting way. This was before I was born, but my father actually managed to escape some of the explosions, and I believe I lost some relatives to it. I'd reccomend learning more the flooding of 1978 in tijuana,it affected both Mexico and California.
I’ve recommended you to my law teacher as we’ve covered several of the disasters (Free Enterprise for example) as they fall under corporate manslaughter.
I finished all your videos in just few days and now I have to wait for new ones. Amazing work that you’re doing here. I’m so glad that I found your channel.
Wow! My mom must have seen this on the news while recovering in the hospital after giving birth to me. She must have been as shocked by this as I am now! I was born on the 18th of that year.
She was probably too busy dealing with your b-a to know anything about guadalerharo Mexico. She was home by then unless your head is the size of a watermelon lol
@@WestonEvans not for a complicated c-section she wasn’t.
April 22 was my due date! I'm glad I decided I needed another week in the womb. I've never heard of this incident. It makes me sad to know that people have been suffering the effects of it for as long as I've been alive.
I’m actually really fascinated by disasters pregnant and recovering mothers witness on tv while lounging. With my first I saw a horrifying fireworks store disaster where some POS set off a firework and within minutes the joint was “knee deep in human ash” according to the broadcast. My last was a newborn during Fukushima. ETA: it goes to show how middle children get forgotten; I was a few weeks from my due date when Katrina happened.
I'm from Guadalajara, I'm flattered to see someone talk about this!
Not even a lot of people who live here talk about the explosions a lot
I wasn't born when this happened but my family members that were tell they lived in constant paranoia of it happening near their homes, actually to this day it's still a big fear for a lot of people who live near the area where that happened
One of the worst events this city has seen
Great video! Keep it up :)
Not sure I'd be able to stomach much food while surrounded by the smell of gas
...Gas fumes set my asthma off in a big way. I'd have left.
It'd be the first time my asthma actually _protected_ my life...
Knowing how explosive gas fumes are I'm surprised people didn't leave the area of their own accord. One cup of gasoline fumes can explode with the force of two sticks of dynamite.
@@beer1for2break3fast4 It appears to have happened in a fairly poor neighbourhood where the luxury of leaving wasn't something most of those households could have afforded.
@@felicitybywater8012 Don't have to be rich to walk.
@@beer1for2break3fast4 You'd need a spark
I don't think open flame would do it or it would have gone off early on from pilot lights in ovens and such.
If you're interested in more mexican disasters (of which there are many) I recommend you research the Guarderia ABC fire. It was a totally preventable fire in a day care in which 49 children died. Surely one of the worst tragedies we've ever faced.
I'm mexican and I love my country, but it can be a very, very tragic place. So many preventable deaths. So much impunity and corruption.
Love this channel!! Thanks for all the hard work you put into your vids!
I remember this. I lived there but I was vacationing with my family and I remember everyone gathering around the tv to watch the news. My parents called everyone they could think of just to check if everyone was ok. The level of devastation can’t even be explained and we all know there were thousands of people that died that day. They were just buried underneath the new streets and buildings.
Same type incident happened in Louisville, Ky about the same year. Purina animal food had released a combustible chemical into the sewer system I was in high school at the time the sewers blew up. Luckily the explosion happened in the early AM.
Woah. I'm Mexican and this is the first time I hear about this disaster. Granted, I was six in 1992 and live in another state but still... Think at that age I had heard more about the San Juanico Disaster from 1984 than this one. Pemex's negligence and close-to-zero accountability in many of these cases is infuriating.
Ah yes, Breakfast and some horror
lol same!!
😄!!!
I remember asking for this video a while ago, thank you so much for posting this. As a mexican, I was shocked that I never heard about it until a few years ago.
The fact that they could smell the gas and YET
Exactly.
Fun story, I was just a 3 yo at this time, my family often went to Puerto Vallarta for vacation, and we always drove through Guadalajara to get there. Around this time we did the trip, and my dad was weirded out because many of the streets that he drove by were deserted, which was unusual for such a busy city that he knew very well since he studied there. Anyway, we continued on our way eventually reaching our destination. It wasn't until he got to the hotel that he caught the news on TV about this disaster, as it happened, we had driven through the area like a day or two after the incident and it was deserted because people expected more explosions to happen, somehow my dad managed to drive through an expected disaster zone unawares of what was happening. Luckily, nothing happened.
Also, I know it's an American thing to make Mexico look like a big pueblo where people ride donkeys but seriously, 2 universities? Guadalajara is huge and dwarves many US cities and has almost 300 universities between public and private institutions. Probably a lot less in the early 90s but probably not just 2.
I feel your pain about your country being seen as one giant, backward backwater. I am Australian and the two most common questions I am asked by internet strangers are 1. Do you have a kangaroo? (It's illegal to keep wildlife in backyards in Australia.) and 2. Do you even speak English down there? (From people who have just read something I have written in perfect English.) Sigh.
Not that it’s really grammatically or logically correct, universities here are often meant to mean the very high enrollment locations. In Los Angeles, there are of course a very high number of campuses. But if asked what universities, many might only say UCLA and USC. Other schools would be colleges. Again, totally inaccurate. But that’s the USA for you lol
That's not an American accent you hear on this channel.
"Limbs, Loved Ones and Livelihoods" would be the perfect subtitle for the first Fascinating Horror book.
I remember being absolutely horrified after reading about this event a few years back. I had no knowledge of it happening at the time, despite being a teenager around the time it happened. What an absolute travesty all around.
I remember the tragedy, I watched the news while it was happening and everyone was shocked. For a while, many people I know were scared by any smell of gas or gasoline that we caught while walking or at home.
It is really sad that the survivors were left without any real help, but sadly Mexico was and STILL IS, a very corrupt country.
Let's hope a tragedy like this never repeats itself.
Thank your for bringing this event to memory, I'm sure many people in Mexico are unaware of it,
By the way, maybe you can talk about the oil pipeline explosion in Hidalgo, Mexico, it happened in January 18, 2019. Some people damaged the pipeline in order to steal gasoline and, as expected, exploded. It may be an interesting topic