Iztapalapa: at least 3 dead and 70 injured in the explosion of a gas pipe on the Concordia bridge in Iztapalapa

The explosion of a gas pipe on Wednesday has caused a strong fire to the east of Mexico City. According to aerial images of local media and passers -by, the flames have reached at least 30 meters high in the vicinity of the Concorda Bridge, close to the limits of the mayorships Iztapalapa and Chalco, the border with the State of Mexico. The head of government of the capital, Clara Brugada, has announced that, according to a preliminary report, at least three people have died and 70 have been injured, 19 of them seriously for second and third grade burns.

Juan Manuel Pérez Coba, Chief of Firefighters of Mexico City, has announced that the fire has been totally extinguished from the trailer that overturned and that extended in its surroundings. Brugada, accompanied by Pablo Vázquez, secretary of Citizen Security of the capital, has said that the tasks to ensure possible dangers in the surroundings have concluded satisfactorily.

The head of government has ordered the mobilization of citizen security authorities and comprehensive risk management to supervise and coordinate the care of affected persons and the control of the remnants of damage caused by fire. “The injured were taken to hospital centers, five of them were transferred in condors of the Secretariat of Citizen Security of Mexico City. We ask to allow the free passage of emergency vehicles and not approach the area,” he said in his account in the social network X.

The injured have been taken to be attended to the José María Morelos y Pavón hospital, of the Institute of Social Security and Services of State Workers (ISSSTE), and to the General Hospital of Zone number 53. “The only thing we ask people is that they do not approach the place of the accident. The risk is controlled, but we ask that they remain very retired so that we can continue with the work. We hope to have information of each of the people. Informed Laura Velázquez, National Civil Protection Coordinator.

Vázquez has detailed that the Prosecutor’s Office has begun investigations to determine the causes of the incident. According to the first report that the authorities received, the overturning, which remains as a hypothesis of the cause of the incident until the expertise is concluded, has occurred at 14.30. The vehicle transported more than 49,000 liters of liquefied oil gas (LPG). The impact caused the escape of this byproduct, exploded and caused the fire. Vázquez has reported that the driver of the gas pipe was transferred to a hospital in the State of Mexico. “It is serious, but is alive,” he complemented at a press conference.

In social networks, videos of how the expansive wave of the flames began to hit the vehicles around and reached up to the second floor of the road distributor. Alejandro Velázquez was transported in a trolebús on the Constitution Route to Santa Marta and he reported how the flames advanced towards mobility. “The driver did not open the door (to escape). The flame climbed, I threw myself face down and felt how the flame reached my head,” he told the media in the area.

In another image you can see Alicia Matías Teodoro, a woman who abandoned the area of ​​the incident walking after having protected and saved her granddaughter, a two -year -old baby. “Right now they tell us that it is fine. That all your little body is anesthetized, but it has burns in the face, arm and legs. My mother is in intensive therapy. Do everything possible to save her. He didn’t have to be there,” said Alice’s daughter.

The affected area remained cordoned off for several hours, until the gas pipe reduced its temperature and the percentage of LPG that was still inside the container was emptied. Pérez Coba has said that they must still make a vehicle review per vehicle to see if they do not find burned human remains. Witness testimonies ensure that people who could not evacuate the area were seen when fleeing the expansion’s expansion. The outbreak has damaged more than 28 vehicles and motorcycles, according to the Firefighters report.

The Security, Energy and Environment Agency (ASEA) has issued a statement in which it details that the semi -trailer involved in the incident is of the Silza transport company, which has transport permits before the National Energy Commission and that is part of Grupo Tomza. However, it makes known that the company has not entered any request related to the Registry of Civil Liability Insurance policies or responsibility for environmental damage for transport permits. “Therefore, to date there is no record of in force in force with the ASEA,” specifies the document.

According to Pérez Coba, it is one of the largest explosions that has occurred in the city since 2015, when a gas leak caused a truck caused a burst and fire in the Maternal Hospital of Cuajimalpa, an event that caused the death of seven people, including three babies, and left dozens of injured.