MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican investigators have been working to find out the reason for a crash wherein a tanker truck carrying greater than 13,000 gallons (49,500 liters) of gasoline exploded on a significant freeway within the capital, killing a minimum of three folks and injuring 70.
The fiery crash Wednesday that burned greater than two-dozen automobiles created a ugly scene of badly burned survivors staggering on the street in tattered clothes as first responders rushed to the scene. The injured suffered second and third-degree burns.
The tragedy drew renewed consideration to the 1000’s of vehicles that rumble by way of Mexico each day carrying liquid propane, which most properties and companies depend on for cooking and heating water. Regulators mentioned a preliminary evaluation revealed the truck didn’t have up-to-date insurance coverage permitting it to move gasoline.
Whereas Wednesday’s accident concerned a big tanker, somewhat than the smaller ones that make residential deliveries, each have been concerned in lethal crashes over the previous decade.
In 2020, a double tanker carrying liquid propane flipped on a freeway within the western state of Nayarit and killed 13 folks when the hearth unfold to different automobiles.
In 2015, a leak on a smaller propane truck making a supply at a Mexico Metropolis maternity hospital allowed gasoline to leak into the constructing and blow most of it up, killing 5 and injuring dozens.
“This can be a horrible accident,” Mexico Metropolis Mayor Clara Brugada mentioned on the website of the explosion Wednesday evening.
Lists of the injured confirmed that some suffered burns over 100% of their our bodies. Amongst these injured have been a child and a 2-year-old baby.
As emergency automobiles sped by and medics attended to the injured, teams of neighbors ran helped pull burn victims from the hearth and get them to security.
The crash occurred on the freeway connecting Mexico Metropolis with Puebla and within the capital’s most populous borough Iztapalapa.
The gasoline tanker laying on its facet had the emblem of the power enterprise Silza on its facet, however in a name with The Related Press an organization official who didn’t wish to be recognized denied it was their automobile. The corporate didn’t instantly reply to an e mail requesting for remark or extra particulars.
Later Wednesday, the federal company charged with regulating industrial security within the hydrocarbon sector mentioned in an announcement that Silza didn’t have up to date insurance coverage paperwork required to move gasoline.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her condolences to households of those that died in a put up on X and thanked emergency groups for his or her work.
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AP journalists Fabiola Sánchez and María Verza contributed to this report.
