A fuel truck explosion on a road in Haiti’s southern peninsula 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 of Miragoane in the department of Nippes, and said some of the most seriously injured victims were evacuated by helicopter to receive specialized care.
Ambulances were also being sent as quickly as possible to attend to others with severe burns and to relieve overcrowded local hospitals.
“It’s a horrible scene we’ve just lived through. Many dozens of victims, wounded, severely burned,” Conille said in a video distributed by the government.
The injured were mostly men, as well as three women and a child, according to a report from Haiti’s emergency services, which did not give any details about the identities of the dead.
Another 15 people sustained second-degree burns, the report said.
A witness to the incident said the truck’s gas tank had been punctured by another vehicle, and people had rushed to the site to collect fuel.
