Aged 11, Jose Humberto Romano Jimenez lost his mother in the Guadalajara gas explosions of April 22, 1992. A year later, he was crowned by British tabloids as the “adopted son” of the Prince of Wales.
Now 31, Romano has turned his life into a success story and is ready to give other needy children the helping hand they require to do the same.
This previously introverted boy was transformed irrevocably on that fateful day 20 years ago, when thousands of gallons of gasoline seeped into 13 kilometers of sewer line in Guadalajara’s Reforma district. The combustible mix eventually exploded, killing more than 200 unsuspecting people.
The roof of Romero’s home began to collapse on top of him, but he was mercifully rescued by firemen, along with his grandmother.
His mother, Guadalupe Jimenez Ramirez, had gone to the bank minutes before the first blast. It wasn’t until following day that Romano was informed that she had died in the explosions.
“It completely changed my life,” Romano says. “I had to take care of my grandmother, who was 79 years old, when I was only 11.” Left homeless by the disaster, the pair entered a raffle and won one of ten apartments donated to victims by the British government.
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