Church roof falls on Mass attendees

MEXICO CITY — The roof of a church collapsed in northern Mexico during a Mass on Sunday, killing an undetermined number of people, injuring about 50 and leaving approximately 30 parishioners trapped in the rubble, authorities said.

The Tamaulipas state police said that about 100 people were in the church at the time of the collapse and that about 30 were thought to still be trapped.

Civil officials gave no information on any casualties. But the Mexican Council of Bishops issued a statement early in the evening saying that “we join in prayer at the tragic loss of life and those injured,” though it did not say how many had died.

Bishop José Armando Alvarez of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tampico said the roof caved in while parishioners were receiving communion at the Santa Cruz church in the Gulf coast city of Ciudad Madero, next to the port city of Tampico.

The diocese later posted a list of about 50 people who had been hospitalized as a result of the accident. They included a 4-month-old baby and three children. There was no immediate information on their conditions.

“From underneath the rubble, thanks to Divine Providence and the work of the rescue teams, people have been pulled out alive!” Alvarez’s diocese wrote in a statement posted on its social media accounts. “Let’s keep praying!”

Tamaulipas state police said units of the National Guard, the state police and state civil defense office and the Red Cross were at the scene seeking to rescue victims.

Photos published by local media showed what appeared to be a concrete and brick structure, with parts of the roof fallen almost to the ground. Security camera footage from about a block away showed the unusual, gabled roof simply collapsed downward.

Walls did not appear to have been blown outward, nor was there any indication of an explosion, or anything other than simple structural failure.