bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A massive fuel truck explosion killed at least 75 people in Haiti, after bystanders swarmed the vehicle to collect spilled fuel - a precious commodity in a nation plagued by acute shortages.
The blast in Haiti’s second city of Cap-Haitien is the latest disaster to hit the poverty-wracked Caribbean nation, riven by gang violence and political paralysis.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry visited the scene of the tragedy, saying his heart was “broken” after meeting some of the dozens of injured in a local hospital. He later tweeted that emergency funds had been released to help deal with the tragedy.
The charred remains of the truck sat in the built-up Samarie area of the city on the country’s northern coast. Surrounding buildings were burnt and scarred in the explosion.

Crowds gathered at the site, where some of the dead were left on the road in body bags.
“It’s horrible what happened,” said Patrick Almonor, deputy mayor of Cap-Haitien, who said late Tuesday that 75 people had died.
Almonor earlier described a horrific scene at the blast site, saying he had seen more people “burned alive” and that it was “impossible to identify them”.
The truck is believed to have flipped over after the driver lost control while swerving to avoid a motorcycle taxi.
Haiti’s civil protection department confirmed the truck had crashed - and that passers-by had rushed to collect the escaped fuel.
Haiti gang leader threatens to kill kidnapped missionaries
“Following this accident, civilians took the chance to collect the gas by filling up makeshift receptacles - causing a terrible explosion that led to numerous victims and major material damage,” civil protection director Jerry Chandler said.
Almonor said around 40 houses in the area were also damaged, but that no details were yet available on the possible victims inside.
The Justinien University Hospital was overwhelmed with patients wounded in the blast.
“We don’t have the ability to treat the number of seriously burned people,” a nurse said. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to save them all.”
A doctor at the hospital told local radio station Magik9 that two people had died there and that 40 other patients were seriously injured.
“The people are burned on more than 60 per cent of their body,” he said.

After visiting the hospital, Henry said: “With a broken heart, I saw the critical condition of some of our compatriots”.
The prime minister flew in accompanied by extra health workers, and said in a tweet he had expressed “solidarity with the grieving families”.
He earlier promised field hospitals would be rapidly deployed to help care for the blast victims.
Henry - who has led the country since July after president Jovenel Moise was assassinated in a still mysterious plot - declared a period of national mourning following the explosion.
Violent protests erupt across Haiti over fuel price increases
Haiti has never produced enough electricity to meet the needs of its 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.
Those who can afford it rely on pricey generators, which are no help in the face of the fuel shortage caused by gangs blocking access to the country’s oil terminals in the capital and its outskirts.
In recent months, more than a dozen vehicles transporting fuel have been attacked by gangs demanding ransoms for the drivers’ release.
Demonstrators took to the streets as recently as Monday to protest the rise in petrol prices.

The lack of fuel is also hitting water access, in a country where many people rely on private companies to deliver water by truck to at-home systems.
And with no guarantee of steady power or running water, health care providers have been forced to drastically cut back their services.
Chronically unstable Haiti was also plunged into a new political crisis with Moise’s assassination.
Four senior Haitian law enforcement officials have been detained and several dozen arrested in connection with the investigation.
But five months after the assassination, doubts remain over who ordered the attack.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


Europe’s ‘China shock’ and how political scientist Ivan Krastev sees its future

Brazil’s Bolsonaro backs son’s presidential bid, undergoes hernia surgery

Trump-backed Nasry Asfura declared winner of Honduras presidential election

Venezuela slams ‘international piracy’ after US seizes another vessel

Americas and the Caribbean

‘Burned alive’: Haiti fuel tanker explosion kills at least 75

A health worker attends a man who was burned after a fuel truck overturned and exploded in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Photo: AP

The aftermath of the fuel truck explosion. Photo: AP

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry talks to a person who was injured in the blast. Photo: Reuters

The aftermath of the fuel truck explosion. Photo: AFP

Death toll of powerful Haiti earthquake soars to almost 1,300

A woman walks in the rubble of her earthquake destroyed home as she attempts to recover her belongings, in Les Cayes, Haiti. Photo: AP

Residents survey a damaged building following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. The U.S. deployed search and rescue teams to help find survivors among the debris of collapsed buildings in Haiti as the death toll soars from Saturday’s massive earthquake. Photographer: Jonathan Alpeyrie/Bloomberg

Firefighters search for survivors inside a collapsed building, after Saturday´s 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

Haiti President Jovenel Moïse killed at home by armed group amid rising wave of violence

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Photo: EPA-EFE

FILE - In this May 23, 2018, file photo, Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, left, and First Lady Martine Moise, in red, receive Spain's Queen Letizia Ortiz at the national Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 23, 2018. Moïse was assassinated after a group of unidentified people attacked his private residence, the country’s interim prime minister said in a statement Wednesday, July 7, 2021. Moïse's wife, First Lady Martine Moïse, is hospitalized, interim Premier Claude Joseph said. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

Demonstrators gather behind a burning barricade during protests against Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 7, 2021. REUTERS/Jeanty Junior Augustin

FILE PHOTO: People make noise during a protest against an epidemic of kidnappings sweeping Haiti, amid deepening political unrest and economic misery, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti April 15, 2021. Picture taken April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Valerie Baeriswyl/File Photo

Police move detained demonstrators in the bed of a pick-up truck to a police station during a protest to demand the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Top Haiti gang leader among 25 killed in prison break, hundreds on the run

Recaptured inmates are led by police outside the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison after a mass breakout. Photo: AP

View of the facade of the Croix-des-Bouquets prison from where many prisoners escaped and where several people were killed, in Croix-des-Bouquets, suburb of the Haitian capital, on February 25, 2021. - Multiple people were killed February 25 in Haiti, including the director of a prison in the suburbs of capital Port-au-Prince, after several inmates escaped, police said. "Divisional inspector Paul Hector Joseph, who is in charge of the civil prison of Croix des Bouquets, was killed in the prison," Gary Desrosiers, the spokesperson for the Haitian national police, told AFP. (Photo by Reginald LOUISSAINT JR / AFP)

Some prisoners captured alive are held in a truck by the Croix-des-Bouquets prison from where they escaped and where several people were killed, in Croix-des-Bouquets, suburb of the Haitian capital, on February 25, 2021. - Multiple people were killed February 25 in Haiti, including the director of a prison in the suburbs of capital Port-au-Prince, after several inmates escaped, police said. "Divisional inspector Paul Hector Joseph, who is in charge of the civil prison of Croix des Bouquets, was killed in the prison," Gary Desrosiers, the spokesperson for the Haitian national police, told AFP. (Photo by Reginald LOUISSAINT JR / AFP)

News

World

Americas


Blast occurred as people collected petrol spilled from truck that flipped over in accident
Haiti’s prime minister visits scene as local hospital is overwhelmed with burns victims



The massive fuel truck explosion occurred after bystanders swarmed the vehicle to collect spilled fuel.


‘Burned alive’: Haiti fuel tanker explosion kills at least 75

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Blast occurred as people collected petrol spilled from truck that flipped over in accident Haiti’s prime minister visits scene as local hospital is overwhelmed with burns victims

Blast occurred as people collected petrol spilled from truck that flipped over in accident

Haiti’s prime minister visits scene as local hospital is overwhelmed with burns victims