On late Tuesday afternoon, a tragic explosion at Jose Cuervo’s La Rojeña distillery in Tequila, Mexico, killed six people and injured two others, “The New York Times” reports. The next morning, a fire broke out at the distillery, though it’s currently unclear whether anyone was inside the distillery at the time, according to the publication “El Mexicano.”
Surveillance footage shared by the Times shows that around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a burst of flames erupted from La Rojeña distillery, catapulting what appears to be a large metal tank into the air. According to Jalisco authorities, the cause of the initial fire remains unknown, but it caused a boiler to explode and set four 60,000-gallon tanks ablaze.
The explosion killed at least five distillery workers and injured two others, one critically, the Jalisco Civil Protection Unit (JCPU) said in a statement. A more recent social media post from the JCPU reports that responders discovered a “lifeless person” inside a retention pit while cleaning up the wreckage from Tuesday’s fire. “With this discovery, there are 6 people dead as a result of the incident that occurred at the tequila company,” José Cuervo said in a statement to El Mexicano.
The initial blast prompted evacuations, and a team of over 40 firefighters and civil protection officials reportedly arrived at the scene to control the fire and clean up debris. As of Tuesday night, the initial fire had been contained, and the mayor of Tequila lifted a temporary stay-at-home order.
On Wednesday morning, a fire ignited in the distillery’s storage area, according to El Mexicano, possibly due to embers from the night before. Luckily, officials and responders were quick to extinguish it.
Jalisco’s La Rojeña distillery was founded in 1812, shortly after the Jose Cuervo brand was established. It’s the oldest active distillery in all of Latin America, and Casa Cuervo — which encompasses Jose Cuervo and several other brands — is the largest tequila-producer in the world. Currently, Casa Cuervo falls under the umbrella of parent beverage company Becle, which is owned by the Beckmann family.