August 25, 2011 10:39 PM Print Text 45 dead in attack on casino in northern Mexico

[Dale_M]

As recently as 2005 and 2006, Monterrey was voted the safest city in Latin America. However, warfare between two rival drug gangs has changed that.

Two dozen gunmen burst into a casino in northern Mexico on Thursday, doused it with gasoline and started a fire that trapped gamblers inside, killing at least 45 people and injuring a dozen more, authorities said.

With shouts and profanities, the attackers told the customers and employees to get out. But many terrified customers and employees fled further inside the building, where they died trapped amid the flames and thick smoke that soon billowed out of the building.

In an act of desperation, authorities commandeered backhoes from a nearby construction site to break into the casino's walls to try to reach the people trapped inside.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...20097577.shtml

According to CNN, the death toll is now 53 and may continue to rise.

[mom2em]

Oh dear. Oh dear.

[adrift]

I don't see a solution to the problem.

I pray for these poor people caught between these evils.