PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO Authorities plan to charge five employees with homicide in connection with a November explosion at a Riviera Maya resort that killed five Canadian tourists and two workers and hospitalized 17 others.
The explosion at the 672-key Grand Riviera Princess was initially thought to have been caused by an accumulation of gas caused by decomposition of organic material beneath the building. Upon further investigation, however, the blast was determined to be the result of a malfunction with an extension of an unauthorized gas pipeline installed in the hotel lounge.
State prosecutors have confirmed that five unidentified resort workers are being sought in the case, but details on the exact charges and the evidence behind them have not yet been disclosed, Agence France-Presse reports.