MEXICO CITY — Thousands of disused gas cylinders sit outside under the sun at a former
refinery in
Mexico City, producing a foul smell that neighbors say has made
their lives a nightmare.
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Almost every
night, Cesar Rivera and his wife leave their apartment because the odor becomes
too much, the 37-year-old web programmer told AFP.
“The smell is so
strong at night — so unbearable — that it’s like the stove isn’t turned off
properly,” he said.
The couple also
fear that the liquefied petroleum gas seeping from the cylinders — which are
used by many households in Mexico City — will cause an explosion or make them
sick.
“The building
administration has asked us not to smoke or use the stove burners when the
smell’s stronger. It has completely changed our lives,” said Rivera.
Aerial images taken by AFP show what looks like a huge graveyard in the
west of the capital, surrounded by residential districts. But instead of human
remains the disused refinery of state-owned oil giant Pemex has become the
resting place of thousands of old multicolored gas cylinders.
LP gas, made up
mainly of butane and propane, is odorless so producers add mercaptan to give it
a nauseating smell that allows it to be detected.
Although “the
gases produced by its combustion are not toxic or carcinogenic” a leak can
cause a build-up that “can be explosive and can suffocate people in small
spaces,”
Mexico’s National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy says on
its website.
The tanks were
stored at the old refinery by the state firm Gas Bienestar, which was created
in 2021 to expand competition in the sector, after exchanging old or damaged
cylinders free of charge for new ones.
In January, the
Mexico City authorities said in a statement that Pemex was in the process of
removing them.
Contacted by
AFP, the company said it was unable to give an interview about the matter.
Mexican civil protection
authorities did not respond to a request for information about the risks posed
by the cylinders.
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