A fire at a lavish wedding in San Miguel de Allende on Saturday night injured 27 people, five of whom required treatment in hospital.
A short circuit reportedly caused the late-night blaze, which quickly engulfed a section of Hacienda Los Arcángeles where hundreds of guests were celebrating the wedding of a couple from northern Mexico.
#INCENDIO La boda del hijo de una de las familias más millonarias de México, terminó en tragedia en San Miguel de Allende, al incendiarse el recinto Hacienda Los Arcángeles. Checa de quién era la boda👇👇👇#SanMigueldeAllende #Fuegohttps://t.co/96zolI2l4d pic.twitter.com/QTtiDAfpgE
— News San Miguel (@NewsSanmiguel) March 17, 2024
Four guests and a DJ providing music for the event sustained burns that warranted treatment in a hospital, while 22 attendees suffered from smoke inhalation and/or minor burns and were treated at the scene. Other attendees rushed out of the venue to escape the danger.
According to a report by News San Miguel, an “excess of artificial foliage” used to adorn the venue and the proximity of that decoration to lighting and cables “contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.”
“Everything happened in seconds,” said one guest quoted by the news site Reporte Indigo.
“We thought it was lighting and when we realized that a column was in fact on fire we started running. The fire spread and the roof started falling onto us,” the person said.
A large marquee set up in a garden area of the hacienda was “completely consumed” by flames, News San Miguel reported.
Hacienda Los Arcángeles said in a statement that emergency services and its own personnel responded quickly to the fire and that “there were only some people with injuries” and they all received the medical care they needed.
“Despite this terrible event, the premises didn’t sustain major damage and we’re working diligently to ensure that … [the hacienda] is completely operational as soon as possible,” said Hacienda Los Arcángeles, a venue located around three kilometers east of the center of San Miguel de Allende, a popular tourism destination in the state of Guanajuato.
Municipal authorities said that firefighters extinguished the blaze in less than two hours, but the news magazine Proceso reported that “some clouds of smoke” were still being attended to on Sunday morning.
The bride and groom have been identified in media reports as Roberta and Alberto. Alberto is reportedly a member of the family of Martín Bringas, owner of the Soriana supermarket chain and one of Mexico’s richest people.
San Miguel de Allende is a popular wedding location for Mexicans from different parts of the country and for foreigners. According to the newspaper Reforma, an average of 20 weddings are held at the city’s haciendas and other exclusive venues every weekend.
With reports from Proceso, Reforma, News San Miguel and Reporte Indigo