The city of Tula in Hidalgo state was inundated after a river inundated with heavy rain
At least 17 patients have been killed in a flood at a hospital in central Mexico, disrupting power supplies and oxygen therapy. Officials gave this information on Tuesday.
The government said on Twitter that the facility was submerged after a river sprang up following heavy rains in the town of Tula in Hidalgo state.
“There are good, very good, bad and very bad days in this honorable deed; Today is one of the later days,” tweeted Andres Manuel López Obrador.
“I am deeply saddened by the death of 17 patients in the hospital,” he said.
The hospital filled within minutes, and oxygen treatment was interrupted by a power cut, said Zoe Robaldo, general director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, which operates the facility.
The remaining 56 patients are reported to be shifted to other hospitals.
According to Mexican media, the victims also included patients with Kovid-19 who needed oxygen therapy to stay alive.
Images show medical personnel pushing patients’ stretchers through water.
The government deployed the military as well as water and electricity board staff to deal with the fallout in Tula, which suffered the brunt of the heavy rain that drenched swaths of Mexico.
Officials said two more people were killed in Acatepec, a suburb of Mexico City, where floods turned roads into rivers.
“A lot of water has fallen in the valley of Mexico (where the capital is located) and it will continue to rain,” López Obrador warned.
“People living in low-lying areas now go to shelters or higher places with family or friends,” he said.
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