LIMA, Jan 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll in the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima has risen to 13 after the overnight deaths of five people hospitalised with severe burns, Peru’s Health Ministry said.
The dead included several young children and a 40-year-old man from Venezuela, the ministry said.
Nearly 50 people were injured, many seriously, when a tanker truck carrying 10,000 litres of liquefied gas exploded early Thursday, igniting a major fire that destroyed several houses and vehicles in the capital’s Villa El Salvador district.
Investigators believe the explosion was caused when a fuel hose became detached as the tanker truck passed over a speed bump as it approached an intersection.
The driver, initially reported to have died in the crash, in fact survived. — NNN-AGENCIES
