At least 59 people have been killed in a gas tank explosion in Haiti

Scores of people were killed late Monday after a tanker transporting gasoline exploded in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city, according to Haiti officials.

 

The death toll currently stands at 59, according to the city’s Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor, who also extended an appeal for blood donations and called the overall situation “critical.” “We have 59 people killed so far, and we have dozens at the hospital and health centers across the city,” said Almonor.

 

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry reacted to the tragedy on Tuesday morning, tweeting: “I learned, with desolation and emotion, the sad news of the explosion, last night, in Cap-Haitien, of a tanker truck transporting gasoline, and which caused, according to a partial report, about forty dead, dozens injured, as well as extensive material damage.”

 

UNICEF sent its condolences to grieving families and will send medical kits for hospitals in Cap-Haitien for the treatment of the burn victims, according to a statement from UNICEF spokesman Ndiaga Seck.