At a mass held in a park in the Analco neighborhood beside a sculpture dedicated to those who died, local priest Jose Marco Castellon reflected that the dark day was due to the “negligence of authorities” and “must never happen again.”
Thousands of liters of gasoline that had leaked into a sewer line ignited at around 8 a.m. A day earlier, city and water utility officials had inspected the sewer and declared there was no danger to the public even though the smell of gasoline was omnipresent. The series of explosions ripped through seven miles of city streets, hurling buses on to roof tops, and making around 15,000 homes uninhabitable.
Among those commemorating the anniversary was Lilia Ruiz Chavez, who lost a leg in the blasts and has dedicated most of her adult life to fighting local and state government bureaucrats for fair compensation for the victims. She acknowledged that many Tapatios born in the last quarter-century know nothing about the explosions and stressed the importance of keeping the memory of the tragedy alive.