VALLEY CITY, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A Valley City, North Dakota family of four is breathing a sigh of relief Wednesday night after a vacation scare that’s making international headlines.
The Lahlum Family was vacationing in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, staying at an Air B&B.
They were about to board a ferry to Cozumel, when the unthinkable happened. A blast from the ferry injured a number of people. 14-year-old John Lahlum and 12-year-old Matthew Lahlum were rushed to a Mexican hospital, after the blast sent shrapnel and glass flying in the air.
John and Matthew are out of the hospital, but are recovering with stitches and bruises.
Their parents, Rebecca and Steve are okay, and did not have to be treated at the ER.
We checked in with the family just three hours after the blast.
“From my right side, I just heard this loud boom and it smelled like firework to me,” says Steve Lahlum.
His wife, Rebecca, recalls what happened, “There was a lot of debris in the air there was a lot of glass. There was others that had been knocked, they fell so quickly when the blast happened, that they had fallen unconscious because they had just hit the ground so hard.”
After the shock of the blast, the family says they are okay. But confusion surrounds what exactly happened.
“Emergency responders showed up very quickly, police were there very quickly,” Rebecca says.
Steve remembers the scene, saying, “Others were definitely not as lucky and have a little bit more recovery than we do.”
There’s no word yet on what caused that blast.