05/29/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2026
Contact: Denise Benavides, Founder & Executive Director, La Monarca Foundation | [email protected]
La Monarca Foundation Mourns After Oak Cliff Apartment Explosion DALLAS
La Monarca Foundation is grieving alongside our community following today's natural gas explosion at the apartment building in the 400 block of East 9th Street in Oak Cliff, which left fatalities, multiple injuries, and several residents still unaccounted for.
Among those missing are families served by our organization families we know by name and have walked beside for years. We are also heartbroken that Sylvia Collins, a tireless community activist, a friend of our organization, and a personal friend of our Founder and Executive Director Denise Benavides, is among the unaccounted for. We pray for her safe return and hold her and her family close.
"Our hearts are unspeakably heavy," said Benavides. "These are not strangers to us. Sylvia is my friend, and these are families whose children we have watched grow. We hold them, and everyone affected, close to our hearts as we wait for word."
A family reunification center has been established at the W. H. Adamson High School gym. We ask our community to keep the missing, the injured, their families, and Dallas Fire-Rescue personnel in their hearts and prayers.
