Visitors to Puerto Vallarta are describing the fiery violence that erupted in the streets following the death of a cartel leader over the weekend.
On Sunday, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) had told Canadians visiting the major Mexican resort city to shelter in place.
GAC said there were shootouts with security forces and explosions, including on roads and highways connecting affected areas to Mexico city.
In an interview with Sarnia News Today on Monday night, one Canadian in Puerto Vallarta (who asked that his name not be used) said his hotel was under lockdown for over 24 hours.
"Our hotel is right next to, it's like an eight lane road, and there was not a car, not a single one," he said. "But, the city is starting to get a bit of life, I just saw two trucks with burnt husks of cars behind them."
He described hearing car bombs going off one after another to block the roads and traffic.
"The 11th floor here has a roof pool and you see everything," he said. "So, get up to the pool and you'd hear like bang, and you look over and there would be like a fire, and then you hear bang again, there'd be another fire. It looked like they were just basically following the road, one after another, after another, after another."
He was scheduled to return home on Wednesday, but as of Monday he was playing it by ear.
"When we looked at like Porter, they gave us the option to move our flight, but we're like 'move it to when?' We have no idea," he said.
Global Affairs Canada said as of Monday evening, over 26,000 Canadians in Mexico had registered with them.
Air Canada, West Jet and Air Transat announced Monday that flights to and from Puerto Vallarta were set to resume Tuesday.
