A week after the fire in a store in the center of Hermosillo, capital of the state of Sonoranorthwest of Mexico, which has left 24 dead, relatives of victims and survivors maintain their demand for justice, amid fear that a new misfortune will occur, since They assure that several properties near the scene of the accident do not have a maintenance plan for their facilities.
Eusebio Arias, uncle of the young Joanna Hernández, 20 years old, student and cashier at the store and who died in the fireaccused that the lack of maintenance of the electricity supply generated the explosion.
“We want answers, we have obsolete, very old businesses that need maintenance, those of us who walk the streets of Hermosillo know this, and also in other cities,” he told the Efe agency.
The family member considered that “it is the responsibility of the government, the store and the personnel in charge of the electrical system, due to the lack of maintenance it overheated and exploded, it is the responsibility of the company, also of the CFE (Federal Electricity Commission).”
So far, 24 people have died after the fire and 14 more were injured, which triggered hundreds of people to march through the streets of the Historic Center of Hermosillo in the middle of the week to demand justice from the authorities for the victims of the incident.
They fear another tragedy like the one in Sonora
In the midst of pain, relatives of the victims have warned that this lack of maintenance in the electrical installations in the buildings in the Historic Center of Hermosillo can cause a new tragedy like the one a week ago.
Ignacio Peinado Luna, leader of the Hermosillo Users Union, dedicated to addressing public service problems, warned that this is the year with the most reports, blackouts and accidents due to the lack of maintenance in the infrastructure of the CFE.
“Without a doubt there is no history going back to summers, like this 2025, where it has been catastrophic, (we have) a CFE absolutely overwhelmed due to the negligence and omission of not maintaining the distribution system of equipment, stations, transformers,” he said.
He assured that maintenance of all this equipment is of vital importance, however, he says that they have been abandoned and unfortunately during the summer “an endless number of transformers with very serious collateral damage” have been damaged and broken down.
According to the official report, On Saturday, November 1, around 3:00 p.m. local time, after several power outages in the Centro neighborhood of Hermosillo, the power transformer in the store exploded. leaving 24 people dead and 14 injured.
The business was full of customers due to the fortnight and the shopping prior to the Day of the Dead in Mexico. The incident is being investigated by the authorities, who have not found any indication that it was caused intentionally.
Victim number 24 was 80-year-old Marco Segundo Reyes, who was a bagger at the store. His daughter Dulce Segundo recognized that the city center is old and that it lacks maintenance.
“The truth is that the Center is very old, they have to work a lot on its maintenance so that another tragedy does not happen again, we don’t want any more misfortunes,” he said.
Guarantee security in Hermosillo businesses
Carlos Roberto Faz Gutiérrez, president of the Pro Obras Board of the Historical and Commercial Center of Hermosillo, pointed out that the merchants They are dedicated to addressing urgent matters to guarantee the safety of their clients.
“(We want) to urge all of us who are dedicated to commerce, products and services, to start with the basics: signage and fire extinguishers, to approach the Civil Protection authorities to get ahead so that a tragedy like this does not happen again,” said the leader of the merchants.
After the tragedy, the governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo Montaño and the mayor of Hermosillo, Antonio Aztiazarán Gutiérrez, announced the dismissal of those responsible for State and Municipal Civil Protection, so that they do not hinder the investigations; Furthermore, the Prosecutor of Justice said that he will open criminal, civil and administrative proceedings against individuals and officials of the State, the Municipality and the Federation.
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In case you are interested: Metro CDMX: status of the lines and stations today, November 8
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