# Five Canadians Killed Others Injured in Mexico Explosion



## George Wallace (14 Nov 2010)

With all the deaths of Canadians in Mexico in recent years one wonders if it really is a place to vacation these days.  

This breaking news of an explosion in a resort hotel, possibly a gas leak in the lobby.

 http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca/home/canadians_at_site_of_mexican_hotel_blast/0fb52fc4

Canadians at site of Mexican hotel blast
14/11/2010 3:33:52 PM

CTV.ca News Staff 

LINK

*At least six people have died and more than a dozen have been injured in an explosion at a Mexican hotel where dozens of Canadians were staying, authorities say.*

The blast occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m. local time near one of the lobbies at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in Playa del Carmen. 

Francisco Alor, attorney general for the state of Quintana Roo, told The Associated Press that initial reports suggest three of the dead may be Canadian tourists, while two others appear to be hotel employees. The sixth victim has yet to be identified.

Alor said the explosion is believed to have been caused by a gas line that ruptured under the lobby's floor. 

At least 60 Canadian tourists from Ontario's Kitchener-Waterloo region were staying at the hotel. 

Ray Hamblin from Toronto was in the adjacent restaurant when the blast occurred. 

"Everybody was enjoying their breakfast and basically there was a loud explosion," Hamblin told CTV News Channel in a telephone interview from Mexico Sunday afternoon. "It sounded like lightning struck right beside you." 

The blast blew out 12-foot glass windows separating the lobby from the restaurant, Hamblin said.

In a video of the aftermath posted on YouTube, part of a roof around one of the resort's buildings has collapsed, and glass and debris are scattered along common areas. Victims can also be seen being loaded onto ambulances that line a driveway. 

Mark Bingeman said he witnessed people being pulled out of the debris, covered in cement dust. 

"There didn't appear to be any structural damage" to the building, he said. "But certainly everything was just devastated inside."

The explosion left a four-foot deep crater in the ground, according to guest James Gaade.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said officials are monitoring reports of the explosion.

Lisa Monette told The Canadian Press that the consulate in Playa del Carmen is prepared to provide consular assistance to any Canadians staying at the hotel. 

"We are aware that a number of Canadians are at the Grand Riviera Princess and are endeavouring to determine if any have been affected," Monette said.

Anyone seeking information about Canadians who may have been staying at the Grand Riviera Princess can call DFAIT at 1-800-387-3124.

With files from The Associated Press


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## HavokFour (14 Nov 2010)

One has to really wonder who in their right mind would still travel to Mexico when these incidents are happening almost on a monthly basis now.

I want to say Darwinism, but that's not quite right.


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## PMedMoe (14 Nov 2010)

Well, to be fair, a gas leak could happen anywhere.  It's all the murders in conjunction with drug deals and muggings that is more worrisome.


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## mariomike (14 Nov 2010)

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Well, to be fair, a gas leak could happen anywhere.  It's all the murders in conjunction with drug deals and muggings that is more worrisome.



We miss the good old days when Montezuma's revenge was our greatest concern.


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## PMedMoe (14 Nov 2010)

I spent a week in Mexico in March and the only "Montezuma's revenge" I got was in the form of a hangover.   ;D


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## tomahawk6 (14 Nov 2010)

My prayers to the families of those killed and injured.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/14/dead-injured-mexico-hotel-explosion/?test=latestnews?test=latestnews

A powerful explosion Sunday likely caused by an accumulation of gas killed 7 people, including five Canadian tourists, at a large resort hotel on Mexico's Caribbean coast, authorities said.

Two Mexican employees of the 676-room hotel Grand Riviera Princess hotel in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, were killed in the explosion, said Francisco Alor, attorney general of Quintana Roo, where the resorts are located.

Two other Canadians suffered severe injuries and were listed in critical condition. Ten others, including two U.S. citizens and eight Mexican employees of the hotel, suffered less serious wounds and were listed as stable.

Alor described a horrific scene in which the floor of the building was basically hurled through the ceiling by the force of the explosion, blowing out windows and sending fragments of aluminum window and ceiling panels frame over a wide area.

"Everyone said their hotel room shook. The glass at neighboring restaurants all cracked and blew out. The tiki hut that was in the area, that was on fire," said James Gaade, a resident of St. Catharines, Ontario, who was walking on the beach when he heard a loud explosion and saw smoke coming from the resort's premium platinum lounge. "There was a large crater in the area, debris."

Alor said the dead include four men and a woman, but offered no further information on the victims. Playa del Carmen Civil Defense director Jesus Puc said the male Canadian fatalities included a nine-year-old boy, a 51-year-old man and two other men between 25 and 30 years old.

Canada's Foreign Affairs and International Trade department confirmed in a statement that one Canadian was killed, adding "we have received unconfirmed reports that three Canadian citizens are missing and seven are injured. No further information is available at this time."

"On behalf of all Canadians, the Government of Canada extends its sympathies to the families and friends of those who lost their lives."

The resort was hosting a large number of Canadians from various provinces, including at least one wedding and a company vacation.

The blast occurred on the ground floor of one of a dozen or so buildings that make up the sprawling hotel, and left a crater a yard (meter) deep inside the building.

It also blew out windows and hurled pieces of paving, glass and aluminum about 50 yards (meters) onto the palm-fringed lawn of the compound.

The area, next to the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, was cordoned off and about 30 Mexican army soldiers stood guard around the hotel.

Alor and other officials, including Puc and local Red Cross director Ricardo Portugal, said the initial investigations suggest the gas that exploded beneath the building was apparently not for cooking, but rather a mix of gases from a nearby swamp.

Alor told local media that investigations were under way to see if the hotel building, which sat on a concrete pad on a swampy area near the beach, had been properly constructed.

"The report suggests an accumulation of gases produced by decomposing organic material in the subsoil, and this gas produced the explosion," Alor said.

"Expert examiners and civil defense 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."

Officials said no gas lines were located in the area where the blast occurred.

Gaade said one of the guests providing first aid told him that three people from Toronto were injured. He estimated that 50 to 70 percent of the guests at the resort were Canadians.

Pete Travers, program director of 570 News Radio in Kitchener, Ontario, was at the hotel with a large group of Canadians from nearby Waterloo. He said all members of his group were accounted for.

Travers recalled hearing a huge crash before he went down for breakfast. He stepped into the hallway to find people running from the blast site as word of an explosion rippled across the resort.

"There was quite a lot of chaos," Travers said. He and a few other guests rushed to grab deck chairs from the pool area to use as makeshift stretchers.


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## karl28 (15 Nov 2010)

As it is True that a gas leak can happen any where . I still think I will be keeping my summer Hollidays close to home and stuff like Camping in near by provincial parks .


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## Veovius (15 Nov 2010)

Gas leak?  No gas lines in the area?  Possibly underground swampy water?  Riiiiight......


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## MPwannabe (15 Nov 2010)

I think anyone going to Mexico right now for any reason is kind of putting their ass on the line...


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## Retired AF Guy (18 Nov 2010)

Veovius said:
			
		

> Gas leak?  No gas lines in the area?  Possibly underground swampy water?  Riiiiight......



Sometimes the  Fates  conspire against you. Lets face it, you could be holidaying in Quebec crossing an overpass and it collapses because of bad construction/maintenance.


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## Retired AF Guy (19 Nov 2010)

Apparently, Mexican authorities are opening a homicide investigation to see if the hotel owners are culpable.


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## HavokFour (19 Nov 2010)

Retired AF Guy said:
			
		

> Apparently, Mexican authorities are opening a homicide investigation to see if the hotel owners are culpable.



No one wants to say the B word, then.


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## Old Sweat (19 Nov 2010)

It seems to me there are technical details that would indicate if it was a gas explosion or an explosive detonation. Do you have anything to support the suggestion that it was the latter?


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## Haletown (19 Nov 2010)

no worries   - I  am departing next week ... .  the forecast is for 34 degrees & 80+ degree water temps.

Can't wait to get to the swim up bar


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## 57Chevy (20 Nov 2010)

Why would anyone want to go to a "druglord infested" country.
Condolences to the families of those innocent victims who were possibly murdered or injured
               _____________________________________________________

Mexico to investigate resort explosion as a homicide

VICTORIA — Seven people, including the five Canadians and two Mexicans, were killed last Sunday when an explosion tore through one of the lobbies at the sprawling Grand Riviera Princess Hotel resort of Playa del Carmen.

Eighteen people were injured.

Mexican authorities have now opened a homicide investigation into the explosion.

Quintana Roo state attorney Francisco Alor said this week three Canadian families have filed homicide complaints with Mexican authorities. Two families have filed injury complaints.

The investigation will look at possible causes of the blast, including whether it was the result of negligence.

Homicide investigations are routine in Mexico whenever there are unexplained deaths, Alor said Thursday. The official Canadian complaints put a further obligation on authorities to open a homicide file, he said.

The mother of one of five Canadians killed is vowing to get to the truth of what happened.

"My son went to Mexico in good faith, and if they think my son's ashes will be swept under a carpet — I don't think so," Lynda Huolt said Friday, from Prince George, B.C., where she lives. "Someone has to be accountable."

Huolt's 33-year-old son, Malcolm Johnson of Nanaimo, B.C., had been married in Mexico three days before his death, leaving behind his new bride, Heather Pynten, and their baby daughter Audrey, who turned one the day before he died.

Johnson, a real estate agent, was getting his wife a coffee when the hotel lobby was rocked by the explosion. A friend of Johnson phoned Huolt to inform her of her son's death.

Huolt hasn't filed an official complaint with Mexican authorities yet, she said.

She said Friday she supports any investigation that will determine why the explosion occurred and who is responsible.

"We will get to the bottom of this," Huolt said. "I have a new mission in life now and I want answers for my son, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter.

"It's the last thing I can do for him now that (Malcolm's) gone," Huolt said. "Ten years from now, when my granddaughter visits me and asks what happened, I'm going to be able to tell her."

She said sometimes she thinks she is in a nightmare from which she will wake up.

The other Canadians killed were Christopher Charmont, 41, and his nine-year-old son, John, from Drumheller, Alta.; Darlene Ferguson, a 51-year-old grandmother from Edmonton; and Elgin Barron, 51, from Guelph, Ont.

Ferguson was in Mexico to see her son's wedding to Shantelle Scherger, an esthetician who has worked at Pure Elements salon and spa for seven years.

Salon owner Chad Stewart said Scherger married Ferguson's son, David, on a beach in Mexico just two days before the explosion that killed Ferguson and injured the couple's toddler son.

Stewart, who has spoken with Scherger and her mother since they returned home, said the family believes the one-year-old boy survived only because he was in a stroller at the time of the blast. He underwent surgery to remove glass that was embedded in his head, said Stewart.

"He's gone through a tremendous ordeal, the poor little guy. He has lots of stitches," Stewart said. "He's pretty bruised up too."

Mexican authorities have repeatedly ruled out any sort of attack as the cause of the explosion. Alor said investigators are pursuing the theory that there may have been an accumulation of methane gas due to rotting material in waste water, and that the gas ignited.

Lawyers have advised the Huolts to wait before taking action. However, Huolt said she was told by the Canadian government that a file on Johnson's death is open.

"We're hoping the Canadian government will take action and we're also waiting to see what the rest of the families are doing, but we will definitely follow their lead," she said.

Huolt said she is not looking for revenge.

At no point has anyone from the hotel apologized to her or offered assistance, she said. However, the airline WestJet Airlines Ltd. has bent over backwards to help the family, she said.

The area is popular with Canadians, and there were about 400 WestJet Vacations guests staying at the resort at the time of the blast.

WestJet flew put on a special flight following the tragedy to take passengers home.

Huolt's son will be buried on Monday. After a private burial service, a celebration of Johnson's life will take place at the a Nanaimo theatre. "It's what he would have wanted," Huolt said.

                   (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)


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## MPwannabe (20 Nov 2010)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/11/19/edmonton-mexico-blast-ferguson-ambulance.html

The ambulance that transported Alberta explosion victim Darlene Ferguson to hospital in Mexico on Sunday ran out of gas along the way, family members told CBC News Friday.

Ferguson, 51, was one of seven people, including five Canadians, who were killed Sunday in the explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess resort in Playa del Carmen.

Ferguson, a mother of three who was in Mexico for her son's wedding, was taken to hospital in Cancun for treatment after the blast, where she died.

When the ambulance ran out of gas, attendants asked Ferguson's daughter Katie to pay for the gas, her brother Barry Hoffman said.

"It's just terrible, actually," he said.

Hoffman said his sister was taken to three different medical facilities.

"All in all, it took three hours before she got actual treatment," Hoffman said. "Three hours is just an unreasonable amount of time."

Katie Ferguson, who is a registered nurse, noticed that the ambulance attendants had placed the respirator on her mother incorrectly.

Mexican authorities announced Thursday that they have opened a homicide investigation into the explosion.



Apparently it only takes one news article for me to instantly become disgusted with a country.


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## PMedMoe (20 Nov 2010)

57Chevy said:
			
		

> Why would anyone want to go to a "druglord infested" country.



Okay, this might be a bit rude, but tact was never my strong point.

What the hell does a gas leak/explosion have to do with a country being "druglord infested"?

Consider this:  In July, a fire breaks out in a hotel in Ottawa filled with tourists from country X.  Someone from country X says "Why would anyone want to go to a country where it snows half the year?"

One thing has nothing to do with the other.

Perhaps people should wait for results as to the cause of the explosion before jumping to conclusions.


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## 57Chevy (20 Nov 2010)

PMed
        OK....I might have been a little bit in the deep end on that one, but everytime I see something 
in the NEWS with regards to Mexico there is someone or another getting blown away by those Cartels.
They have gained so much control of that country that it has become an unsafe vacation spot. The Police
have become a target and they have to call in the army to try to control the bloodshed. It has gotten way
out of hand. It has been recommended that Canadians stay away from there. And I agree 110%. 
        I admit that it is truly a beautiful place to visit in the virtual world but my footprint will never be found
there. And I don't care how cheap it can be to vacation there.


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## Oh No a Canadian (20 Nov 2010)

A comma should be placed between 'killed' and 'others' in the title, it is a little misleading when one is first reading it.


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## mariomike (20 Nov 2010)

57Chevy said:
			
		

> OK....I might have been a little bit in the deep end on that one, but everytime I see something
> in the NEWS with regards to Mexico there is someone or another getting blown away by those Cartels.



1994
"Car Bomb at Mexico Hotel Kills 5; Drug Link Suspected: GUADALAJARA, Mexico — A car packed with powerful explosives blew up outside a luxury hotel Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding 15. Police sources said the bombing may be linked to Guadalajara's drug gangs.":
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-12/news/mn-3431_1_drug-link-suspected


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## SteveB (20 Nov 2010)

57Chevy said:
			
		

> ... everytime I see something in the NEWS with regards to Mexico there is someone or another getting blown away by those Cartels. They have gained so much control of that country that it has become an unsafe vacation spot. The Police
> have become a target and they have to call in the army to try to control the bloodshed....



The only time I read about the CF in Afghanistan, someone has died a futile death and we should pull out.  :

By now, we should all be taking a v. large grain of salt with our MSM reports.

I'm not saying that bad things don't happen in Mexico but, once you leave Canada, you are in someone else's country.  I fly to every Southern destination from Panama North.  They all have their issues.  The holiday areas or Mexico are a lot safer than the Northern  Mexican states.  The security situation in Jamaica or the DR is no better than Mexico.  I would be far more nervous as Hugo's guest in Venezuela.


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## mariomike (20 Nov 2010)

SteveB said:
			
		

> I'm not saying that bad things don't happen in Mexico but, once you leave Canada, you are in someone else's country.  I fly to every Southern destination from Panama North.  They all have their issues.  The holiday areas or Mexico are a lot safer than the Northern  Mexican states.  The security situation in Jamaica or the DR is no better than Mexico.  I would be far more nervous as Hugo's guest in Venezuela.



Travel reports, if interested:
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=184000


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## SteveB (20 Nov 2010)

I was interested to read that post and I think it good advice to all Canadians travelling abroad to check for warnings in any country they will be entering.  That said, every warning posted on the GC web site specifically notes that tourist areas have been safe and that the threat lies in the areas bordering the US.  Having travelled to both Chihuahua, as well as the Pacific and Caribbean tourist areas of Mexico in the last year, I will certainly agree with that.  Chihuahua features troops and federales armed with G36 knock offs patrolling the airport and main city intersections in groups of 4+ supported by a light 4x4 armed with a Minimi mounted fashionably on the roll bar.  The tourist areas have a lone G3 armed soldier to wave the flag at the airport.

I note very little concern in the folks I drop off in Cuba yet, there have been instances of the Cuban government detaining Canadians for months, following their involvement in a traffic accident.  Bad things happen, maintain situational awareness, wear SPF 30 or better.


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## Haletown (20 Nov 2010)

Cuba ?

The country is a military dictatorship, there are no human rights, the island is a giant prison, the people are essentially slaves and the tourist business enriched the leaders of the dictatorship.

Nice place to take a vacation if you can park your morality at home while you have fun at the expense of millions of Cuban citizen slaves.

Morons like Trudeau thought Che & Fidel were cool dudes. Funny how the 
"progressives" are attracted to mass murderers.


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## gun runner (20 Nov 2010)

What the hell does a gas leak/explosion have to do with a country being "druglord infested"?

Consider this:  In July, a fire breaks out in a hotel in Ottawa filled with tourists from country X.  Someone from country X says "Why would anyone want to go to a country where it snows half the year?"

One thing has nothing to do with the other.


HELLO...IS ANYONE HOME ? Mexico is a druglords haven. Don't you watch the news? The meatballs shot at a husband and wife IN AMERICAN WATERS while they were out enjoying their watercraft, simply because they MAY have strayed too close to their potential drug activities. I hope I am not jumping to conclusions for you! This could have been a bombing...who knows. Even the local Mayor stated there is a drug problem in the local populus. In Mexico one thing may have everything to do with the other. Don't underestimate the problems in that country may have an effect on Canadian and other foreign vacationers.


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## MPwannabe (21 Nov 2010)

"Nice place to take a vacation if you can park your morality at home"

^ Isn't that why people go on vacation in the first place?


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## PMedMoe (21 Nov 2010)

gun runner said:
			
		

> HELLO...IS ANYONE HOME ? Mexico is a druglords haven. Don't you watch the news? The meatballs shot at a husband and wife IN AMERICAN WATERS while they were out enjoying their watercraft, simply because they MAY have strayed too close to their potential drug activities. I hope I am not jumping to conclusions for you! This could have been a bombing...who knows. Even the local Mayor stated there is a drug problem in the local populus. In Mexico one thing may have everything to do with the other. Don't underestimate the problems in that country may have an effect on Canadian and other foreign vacationers.



Uh, yeah, I meant the poster's remark _in conjunction_ with the news article posted.    :

You want to go on about Mexico's druglords?  Start a new thread.  This one is _supposed_ to be about a gas leak at a resort.

BTW, it's not only Mexico.  I'll bet there's several South American tourist destinations that have the same problem.


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## Fishbone Jones (21 Nov 2010)

Let's keep the discussion civil folks. It's not that important that it can't be locked if people don't behave themselves.

Milnet.ca Staff


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## AJC (22 Nov 2010)

I stayed at that resort a year ago for a wedding. Pretty secure on the entry side, lost of security staff. Beach was great, Mohitos were better, food was eatable. I would go back especially with Westjet. 
Having said that its Mexico. Lots of shady characters around downtown Playa del Carmen - just like anywhere else. You take a risk no matter where you go. Stay in the resort, especially at night, don't travel by yourself. Most of the time it works. This is likely a accident, could have happened anywhere. People die in car accidents,  but we don't stop driving.


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## mariomike (22 Nov 2010)

AJC said:
			
		

> People die in car accidents,  but we don't stop driving.



True. But, traffic fatalities in Canada have been declining steadily since 1979. 
Tourism to Mexico also seems to be declining ( 2009 ):
http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=3695


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## George Wallace (22 Nov 2010)

mariomike said:
			
		

> True. But, traffic fatalities in Canada have been declining steadily since 1979.
> Tourism to Mexico also seems to be declining:
> http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=3695



....while deaths of Canadian tourists are rising.


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## missing1 (22 Nov 2010)

If you don't like Mexico you can always try Costa Rica. A lot of it is still unspoiled by North American way of life.


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## Retired AF Guy (22 Nov 2010)

mariomike said:
			
		

> True. But, traffic fatalities in Canada have been declining steadily since 1979.
> Tourism to Mexico also seems to be declining ( 2009 ):
> http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=3695






			
				George Wallace said:
			
		

> ....while deaths of Canadian tourists are rising.



 Here is a link  to a 2007 Toronto Star article covering a period from 2000 - 2007 that points out during this period more than 250 Canadians were murdered overseas with the number one country for deaths being the United States with 56 or more murders. The next largest number of deaths (47) occurred in the Mexican/Caribbean region with fifteen of those deaths occurring in Mexico between 2000 - 2006.

So, compared to the U.S., a relative small number of Canadians have been murdered in Mexico. However, it should be noted that more Canadians visit the U.S. than Mexico. But, a large number of Canadians visit Mexico every year and has been increasing in recent years.  Here  is a more recent Globe and Mail article (12 Nov 2010) that gives some perspective by pointing out that between 2005 to 2009 the number of Canadians visiting Mexico increased from 675,000+ (2005) to over 1.2 million (2009). So, again considering the large number of Canadians visiting Mexico, the chances that you could be a murdered is pretty small. In would be interesting to know how many are killed in more mundane ways such as accidents or health reasons.

My personal opinion as someone who has visited many countries (but not Mexico) is that no matter where you go overseas, whether its Mexico or the U.K., there is the potential that you could end up as a victim of crime or more likely being involved in an accident or getting sick. If you exercise some situational awareness and common sense you probably won't have any problems. Unfortunately, most people holidaying overseas exercise very SA and pay the consequences.


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## George Wallace (22 Nov 2010)

Retired AF Guy said:
			
		

> My personal opinion as someone who has visited many countries (but not Mexico) is that no matter where you go overseas, whether its Mexico or the U.K., there is the potential that you could end up as a victim of crime or more likely being involved in an accident or getting sick. If you exercise some situational awareness and common sense you probably won't have any problems. Unfortunately, most people holidaying overseas exercise very little SA and pay the consequences.



Agree 100+%


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## midget-boyd91 (22 Nov 2010)

When Canadians go to Mexico they are (usually) on vaction. When Canadians are on vacation they are (usually) indulging in the fun things that come with vacation; drinking, going out to crowded resort bars full of other people indulging in vacation juice.  
    
    It doesn't matter *where* you are; when the party mood is in place and people are into the booze around many other people drinking, judgement is seriously lacking. Making the likelihood of accidents causing injury or death, or mouthing off to the wrong person and winding up getting seriously hurt or killed much more likely.  When people go on vacation they drink and that ups the ante.

And something that I notice when reading/watching the news about Canadians (or Americans, Britons etc) being killed, whether it's accidental or murder, while on vacation.... in probably three quarters of the cases it's mentioned that the deceased was out at a party with friends or out at a night club. Drinking no doubt.

My two pesos anyways.


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## 57Chevy (31 Jan 2011)

5 charged in Mexico hotel blast: Reports

MEXICO CITY-Mexican officials have issued five apprehension orders over the Nov. 14, 2010, explosion in a Playa del Carmen hotel that killed five Canadian tourists and two resort employees.

Quintana Roo state Assistant Attorney General Rodolfo Garcia Pliego said the apprehension orders were issued for manslaughter, negligence causing injury and professional misconduct, according to the newspaper Diario de Yucatan. No names were released, but the newspaper reported the apprehension orders were issued for both hotel employees and non-employees.

more at link...
                                   (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)


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