A blast has killed at least five Canadian tourists and two staff at a hotel in Play del Carmen on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.
A build-up of natural gas is being blamed for the explosion which blew out windows of the 672-room Grand Riviera Princess hotel and left a further 15 people injured.
One child is reported to be among the dead while and two other Canadians are said to be in a critical condition. Others, including two US citizens and Mexican workers at the hotel, are said to be less seriously injured.
Many Canadian tourists were staying at the hotel complex, run by Princess Hotels & Resorts and located in the Maya Riviera, about 55 miles from Cancun.
UK operators and online travel agencies including Thomson and Expedia feature the property but there have been no reports of British holidaymakers being affected.
Local state prosecutor Francisco Alor was reported as saying the floor of the hotel was blasted through the ceiling by the force of the explosion, blowing out windows and scattering debris over a wide area.
He told local media that investigations were under way to see if the hotel, which sits on a concrete platform on a swampy area near the beach, had been properly built.
“The report suggests an accumulation of gases produced by decomposing organic material in the subsoil, and this gas produced the explosion,” he reportedly said.
“Expert examiners and civil defence personnel will have to determine if the underground space filled with swampy water that remained in this zone when the building was constructed four years ago, could have generated this type of gases.”