A short circuit caused the fire that destroyed a casino and an indoor childrens park in western Mexico, authorities for the state of Sinaloa have revealed.
Welders were working in one of the rooms inside the structure that houses the Royal Yak Casino and Air Jump Trampolines Park at Cinépolis Plaza when the fire broke out.
The workers used an onsite extinguisher in an attempt to put out the flames before it spread across the building.
Indeed, the line of progress reported by the prosecution rules out that it was provoked, said Sinaloa Secretary General, Feliciano Castro, during a press conference Friday.
Civil Defense director, Aurelio Navarrete, said the lone victim, a 39-year-old man identified as Alejandro, suffered second degree burns and remains hospitalized and in stable condition
The fire started shortly after 11 am local time and was put out within two hours by 88 members of Culiacán Fire Department, Red Cross and Civil Defense, which used 500,000 liters of waters to combat the blaze.
Aurelio Navarrete, said authorities were able to evacuate 415 workers and 232 visitors from the commercial shopping center.
Yes, we struggled a bit to remove the people, because everyone was trying to take photos and videos, Navarrete said.
Sinaloa Secretary General, Feliciano Castro, revealed during a press conference Friday that the fire that destroyed Royal Yak Casino and Air Jump Trampolines Park at Cinépolis Plaza on Thursday was caused by a short circuit while welders were working in one of the rooms at the casino
The fire at the building that housed the Royal Yak Casino and Air Jump Trampolines Park at Cinépolis Plaza started around 11 am local time Thursday. It took firefighters almost two hour to combat the blaze
Video filmed by a motorist showed flames covering the top of the building and plumes of smoke billowing the structure when a large fireball burst.
As the flames began to expand, larges pieces of the building came crashing to the ground.
A second video captured the smoke thickening over the building, located at the Cinépolis Plaza shopping center, when a large section of the structure featuring its signage collapsed.
A nearby school had to evacuate all students from the facility as a precaution. No injuries were reported.
The Royal Yak Casinos signage collapsed to the ground as the blaze quickly spread through he building, which was also home to the Air Jump Trampolines Park, a childrens play place
Authorities in the western Mexico state of Sinaloa ruled out arson following Thursdays fire that burned down a building that housed the Royal Yak Casino and the Air Jump Trampolines Park
Aerial view of Thursdays massive fire in Culiacán, Mexico that ripped through the Royal Yak Casino and Air Jump Trampolines Park
The Royal Yak Casino is owned by Grupo Condere, a Spain-based company that owns 86 other game sites in Mexico, mostly along its northern region.
The company also operates casinos in Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Panama and Italy.
Grupo Codere had not addressed the incident as of Friday.
The inferno comes as Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, and other cities have been besieged by an internal war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel led by the two sons of the criminal organizations co-founder, Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, and the son of his former righthand man and also co-founder, Ismael El Mayo Zambada.