At least 60 killed in Haiti gas tanker explosion

The blast is the latest disaster to hit the poverty-wracked Caribbean nation, where violent gangs have triggered crippling fuel shortages by choking off supply, and the president's assassination five months ago has yet to be elucidated.Almonor earlier described a horrific scene at the blast site, saying he had seen more than 50 people "burned alive" and that it was "impossible to identify them."Fuel spilled onto the road and pedestrians apparently rushed to collect the tanker's gas, a precious commodity as Haiti grapples with a severe fuel shortage caused by the tightening grip of criminal gangs on the capital Port-au-Prince.Nearby Justinien University Hospital was overwhelmed with patients as the injured were transported to the facility."I'm afraid we won't be able to save them all," she said. "The people are burned on more than 60 percent of their body," she said."I learned with sadness and emotion the terrible news of the explosion of a gas tanker last night in Cap-Haitien," Henry tweeted.Henry promised field hospitals would be rapidly deployed to help care for the blast victims.The Caribbean nation has never produced enough electricity to meet the needs of the whole population. Even in well-off parts of the capital, the state-run Haiti electric utility only provides, at most, a few hours of power a day.In recent months more than a dozen vehicles transporting fuel have been attacked by gangs demanding ransoms for the drivers' release.The lack of fuel is also damming up water access, in a country where many people rely on private companies to deliver water by truck to at-home systems.Chronically-unstable Haiti was also plunged into a new political crisis with the assassination of the late president, Jovenel Moise, in July. But five months after Moise's assassination, doubts remain over who ordered the attack, during which not a single police officer guarding the president was injured. ...

from Daily Telegraph https://ift.tt/30o4Pwg

December 14, 2021 at 09:22PM
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
The blast is the latest disaster to hit the poverty-wracked Caribbean nation, where violent gangs have triggered crippling fuel shortages by choking off supply, and the president's assassination five months ago has yet to be elucidated.Almonor earlier described a horrific scene at the blast site, saying he had seen more than 50 people "burned alive" and that it was "impossible to identify them."Fuel spilled onto the road and pedestrians apparently rushed to collect the tanker's gas, a precious commodity as Haiti grapples with a severe fuel shortage caused by the tightening grip of criminal gangs on the capital Port-au-Prince.Nearby Justinien University Hospital was overwhelmed with patients as the injured were transported to the facility."I'm afraid we won't be able to save them all," she said. "The people are burned on more than 60 percent of their body," she said."I learned with sadness and emotion the terrible news of the explosion of a gas tanker last night in Cap-Haitien," Henry tweeted.Henry promised field hospitals would be rapidly deployed to help care for the blast victims.The Caribbean nation has never produced enough electricity to meet the needs of the whole population. Even in well-off parts of the capital, the state-run Haiti electric utility only provides, at most, a few hours of power a day.In recent months more than a dozen vehicles transporting fuel have been attacked by gangs demanding ransoms for the drivers' release.The lack of fuel is also damming up water access, in a country where many people rely on private companies to deliver water by truck to at-home systems.Chronically-unstable Haiti was also plunged into a new political crisis with the assassination of the late president, Jovenel Moise, in July. But five months after Moise's assassination, doubts remain over who ordered the attack, during which not a single police officer guarding the president was injured. ...