The number of deaths in Chile rises to twelve due to the explosion of a gas truck

Santiago de Chile.- The Chilean Ministry of Health reported this Wednesday that the number of deaths from the explosion last Thursday of a truck carrying liquefied gas increased to twelve. Regarding the nine people who are still hospitalized, the authorities detailed that five “remain stable within their severity and still at vital risk,” while another four “are in intermediate care.”

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The vehicle exploded on a highway in the Metropolitan Region, where the capital is located, at the intersection of the country’s most important highway, Route 5, with a very busy secondary road. The explosion generated a large fire that reached seven other vehicles that were traveling on the highway at the same time, and also a car junkyard. In addition, it caused a large cloud of smoke that reached different points in the city. The fire was extinguished after nine hours of work by the firefighters. The victims are all adults and most of them are motorists, including the truck driver, whom the Prosecutor’s Office investigating the case points to, in its initial hypothesis, for probable speeding. The accident has reopened a debate in Chile about driving hours for the transportation of dangerous goods. Unions and companies of cargo transport drivers from several regions of the country demanded that the long driving shifts and speed limits for dangerous goods, which is currently set at 90 km/h, be reviewed and inspected, without distinction regarding the type of cargo transported.