American tourists in Mexico for a wedding have been left trapped indoors with few supplies as they scramble to find the earliest flights out of the country after the death of a top cartel boss triggered widespread violence.
Megan Bullock, 32, had flown into Puerto Vallarta to attend a friend's nuptials over the weekend when she learned early Sunday that the Mexican military had killed the notorious Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The gangsters retaliated with mass attacks across the country. The cartel blew up vehicles and set up roadblocks across 20 states -- destruction that was visible from Bullock's resort.
"You could see explosives going on to the right of us throughout the whole day," Bullock told The Post.
"There's a lot of dark smoke," she added. "You didn't really hear gunshots or anything, but just constant fires erupting."
Joe Antonini, 32, of Brooklyn, was attending the same wedding when the festivities were interrupted by the mayhem.
Antonini said he could also see the billowing smoke plumes from his hotel.
All of the tourists and workers at the hotel were warned to stay inside and the US Embassy issued an advisory to all Americans.
"We're all basically stuck," he said.
The stressful situation has only been exacerbated by the "dwindling resources," Antonini stressed, along with the language barrier between tourists and the local workers.
Bullock added that some staffers had been working for 72 hours in the chaos, with both food and water quickly running out on the first day.
"So they're exhausted and they don’t really know what to tell us," Bullock said.
While things have calmed down and resources were restocked by Monday, the Americans said they were eager to leave as soon as possible as the carnage around Jalisco and its neighboring states show no sign of slowing down.
Both Bullock and Antonini said they were able to book a flight out of the country for later in the week, but they said they and others are looking for any flights that might become available even earlier.
Bullock noted that there was an initial panic after several airlines -- including Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United and American -- cancelled flights to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara out of an abundance of caution.
For now, both Americans are adhering to the orders from US officials to stay off the streets under any circumstances.
On Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the cartel's more than 250 roadblocks have been cleared, with Mexican authorities arresting more than 70 people across seven states as part of a crackdown to restore order.
At least 73 people were killed in the operation to take down El Mencho and the subsequent attack from the cartels, including 25 Mexican National Guard troops.