Haiti gas truck blast toll rises to 90

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December 22, 2021

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Haiti gas truck blast toll rises to 90

Source: AFP | 06:00 UTC+8 December 22, 2021 |

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More than a dozen people severely injured in a gas truck explosion last week in Haiti have died, raising the total number of deaths to 90, the deputy mayor of Cap-Haitien city, where the tragedy occurred, said on Monday.

The count is “still unfortunately incomplete” due to severe injuries suffered by those still hospitalized, said Patrick Almonor.

The previous tally released on last Wednesday by Haitian authorities was 75 dead and 47 severely burned. According to Almonor, during the night of December 13, the driver of the gas truck lost control when he swerved to avoid a motor-taxi, and overturned. Residents tried to collect the spilled fuel, which then exploded.

Yesterday, national funerals were to be observed in the city’s main cathedral, but only 25 caskets were to be set up. The majority of the victims were buried shortly afterward in a mass grave in Cap-Haitien.

In a country plagued by natural disasters and political instability, more than 60 percent of Haiti’s 11 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Fuel shortages have been a frequent occurrence in recent years, with authorities regularly running out of cash to pay gas distributors.

“Fuel is worth its weight in gold these days in the country, and there it was free for the taking,” Almonor said, describing the scene of the explosion. “That’s what worsened the toll.”

The tragedy also underscored the weakness of Haiti’s national health care system: the only facility specializing in the care of severe burns in the country is managed by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres) in the capital, 200 kilometers south of Cap-Haitien.

MSF dispatched an emergency team to the northern city to help local hospital staff.

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Haiti gas truck blast toll rises to 90

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