Explosion left half of 40 injured survivors with third-degree burns, says govt
\n Port-au-Prince
\nA fuel truck explosion on a road in Haiti\u2019s southern peninsula on Saturday killed 24 people and left half of the 40 injured survivors with third-degree burns, the government said.
\nHaiti Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the site, near the coastal city of Miragoane in the department of Nippes, and said some of the most seriously injured victims were evacuated by helicopter to receive specialised care.
\nAmbulances were also being sent as quickly as possible to attend to others with severe burns and to relieve overcrowded local hospitals.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a horrible scene we\u2019ve just lived through. Many dozens of victims, wounded, severely burned,\u201d Conille said in a video distributed by the government.
\nThe injured were mostly men, as well as three women and a child, according to a report from Haiti\u2019s emergency services, which did not give any details about the identities of the dead.
\nAnother 15 people sustained second-degree burns, the report said.
\nA witness to the incident said the truck\u2019s gas tank had been punctured by another vehicle, and people had rushed to the site to collect fuel.
\n\u201cThere were a lot of people. Those who were close to the truck got pulverised,\u201d the man, who did not give his name, said in a video interview with local outlet Echo Haiti Media.
\nA similar incident in 2021 in the city of Cap-Haitien killed at least 60 people, after people were also thought to have been attempting to take fuel from a tanker truck.
\nFuel deliveries to the Miragoane area have slowed in recent weeks as trucks were transported via ferry to avoid gang-controlled highways surrounding the capital of Port-au-Prince.
\nThe spread of gangs in the capital and surrounding areas has fuelled a humanitarian crisis with mass displacements, sexual violence, child recruitment and widespread hunger. A state of emergency is now in place nationwide.
\nHaiti\u2019s civil protection agency reported the identities of a 31-year-old man and two 23-year-old men who suffered burns over 89% of their bodies, and were being treated in a hospital in Les Cayes, in southern Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Explosion left half of 40 injured survivors with third-degree burns, says govt Port-au-Prince A fuel truck explosion on a road in Haiti\u2019s southern peninsula on Saturday killed 24 people and left half of the 40 injured survivors with third-degree burns, the government said. Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the site, near the coastal city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-431435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n