Four Killed, 90 Wounded In Mexico City Gas Truck Blast

A gas truck exploded in Mexico City on Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 90, municipal officials said, as well as causing widespread damage and disruption.

The vehicle overturned and blew up under a bridge in the densely populated Iztapalapa district, leaving 19 people with second- and third-degree burns, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said.

The injured were treated in city hospitals, where desperate relatives gathered for news of their loved ones.

She later updated the toll of dead and injured on the social media platform X, adding that 10 of the injured had been discharged.

Images distributed on television and social networks show the moment of the powerful explosion.

People can be seen with what appear to be serious burns, while others near the disaster zone flee fast-spreading flames that were later brought under control by firefighters.

Security Secretary Pablo Vazquez told reporters that surveillance footage showed “people who abandoned the vehicle with fire on their bodies.”

Around 28 other vehicles were damaged in the explosion, the causes of which are not yet known.

READ ALSO: Hundreds Stranded As Heavy Rains Paralyze Mexico Suburb

Some victims were evacuated by helicopters as part of an emergency response that involved hundreds of paramedics and soldiers.

Images showed the burning truck, which was transporting 49,500 liters of gas, overturned on the road.

Preliminary information indicated the trailer’s operating permit was not in order. A federal safety agency said it had not received the required insurance policy from the vehicle’s owner.

The smoke from the inferno reached a nearby trolleybus station, one of the main modes of transport in the city of 9.2 million inhabitants.

Iztapalapa is home to 1.8 million of those, making it one of the most populated districts in the country.

Mexico is no stranger to disasters linked to fuel trucks and hydrocarbon infrastructure.

The worst occurred in January 2019, when a fire and subsequent explosion on a pipeline being looted killed 137 people in the town of Tlahuelilpan, in the central state of Hidalgo.