At least 19 people are dead following a gas truck explosion in a suburb of Mexico City.
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Ecatepec, Mexico — 7 May 2013
SHOTLIST
1. Wide of part of gas tanker that was blown off highway by the blast, burnt out cars
2. Mid of destroyed car beside tanker debris
3. Mid of firefighter at scene
4. Close up of burnt out vehicle
5. Various of firefighters putting out fires in destroyed houses
6. Wide of debris and burnt trees beside highway where tanker exploded
7. Wide of soldiers and police standing on edge of highway bridge destroyed by explosion
8. Various of firefighters carrying body out of destroyed house
9. Wide of burnt out car and debris
10. Mid of burnt bicycles on ground
11. Wide of man moving burnt debris of his home and pointing to the remains of his bed on the ground
12. Mid of smoking bricks on the ground
13. Mid of paramedics walking through destroyed house
14. Mid of paramedics walking by destroyed house
15. Mid interior of destruction inside house
16. Wide of people gathered outside police cordon
17. Wide of police and firefighters at scene
18. Wide of helicopter flying overhead
STORYLINE
A gas tanker truck exploded on a highway in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and injuring three dozen, according to the Citizen Safety Department of Mexico State, which surrounds Mexico City.
Officials did not rule out the possibility the death toll could rise more as emergency workers continued sifting through the charred remains of vehicles and homes built near the highway on the northern edge of the metropolis.
Authorities did not immediately report a cause for the explosion.
A huge piece of the truck’s gas tank was blown 50 yards by the force of the blast, landing atop the wall of a house and cars parked outside.
Charred wreckage of cars littered the blast site.
One small passenger van had been totally gutted by flames and tossed against the wall of one of the many improvised houses built next to the highway.
Hundreds of police, ambulance drivers, paramedics, soldiers and firefighters gathered at the scene, where a giant plume of smoke rose over the area after the explosion around 5 a.m. local time (1000GMT) on Tuesday.
Emergency personnel at the scene pulled dead victims from their homes, some apparently burned in their beds.
Peblo Bedolla, Mayor of Ecatepec said that there were at least 18 dead and 32 people injured, the number of dead was quickly increased to 19.
The explosion closed the highway between Mexico City and Pachuca for hours.
The pre-dawn accident exposed two recurrent public safety issues in Mexico: extremely heavy trucks that are frequently involved in serious accidents, and the construction of improvised homes just feet away from major highways.
Some of the cinderblock homes hit by the massive explosion were just steps away from the busy, four-lane highway.
Other homes were mere shacks, built of sheet tin.
Charred debris was all that remained of survivor Cleto Anaya’s home.
He said he was lucky to be alive.
“I thank god I’m alive because when I woke up everything was surrounded by fire,” he said picking through the remnants of his home.
Secretary of Citizen Security for the State of Mexico, Salvador Neme, said that around 20 homes had been damaged, some more so than others.
Mexican trucks, often overloaded or unsafely operated, have been involved in a number of spectacular, deadly accidents in recent years.
The truck involved in Tuesday’s accident was a double tanker: one cab pulling two gas tanks.
The driver was injured in the crash, and was under detention at a local hospital.
One year ago, the Mexican government announced measures to tighten inspections and lower maximum allowed weights for freight trucks after protests over a string of deadly accidents involving double-trailer trucks.
Mexico had allowed trucks to travel two-lane roads with loads of up to 80 metric tons and lengths exceeding 100 feet, compared to a U.S. limit of is 80,000 pounds (40 tons) on interstate highways. It subsequently reduced that limit by about 4.5 tons.
