A month after a truck loaded with 49,500 liters of LP gas exploded in the south of Mexico City, causing an imposing cloud of fuel that caught fire seconds later, the death toll remains at 31.
After the explosion in the Iztapalapa mayor’s office, 94 people were transferred to different hospitals in the country’s capital, of which, according to data from the capital’s Health Secretariat, nine people – four of them minors – remain hospitalized due to burns.
Among those affected was Alicia Matías Teodoro, 49, who died days later after having suffered burns to 98% of her body while protecting her granddaughter Jaclyn Azulet Carrillo Matías, who was only two years old.
Two days after the tragedy, her daughter and mother of the baby, Cynthia Yazmín Carrillo, explained that Alicia “was a hero for doing what she did.”
The little girl was taken to the Medical Center Hospital in Mexico City, and after several days, she was transferred to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas (United States), where last Tuesday “she received a first graft surgery on her hands, legs and head, with favorable results” and began a “physical rehabilitation process to recover mobility in her extremities,” as reported in a statement by the Michou and Mau Foundation for Children. Burned.
Excessive speed as the cause of the accident
At 2:20 p.m. local time, the Transportadora Silza company truck was descending towards a curve in the La Concordia Road Distributor when it overturned, causing a gas leak caused by a crack resulting from the impact of the pipe against a containment block.
The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City attributed the cause of the accident to possible excess speed, prosecutor Bertha Alcalde reported in an appearance on September 11.
31 seconds after the accident, the cloud of white gas vapor turned into an immense flame that affected people and vehicles near the accident.
Experts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) explained to local media that the tragedy was caused by the deflagration of the dispersed LP gas cloud, and not by the explosion of the tank itself.
“If it had exploded, the consequences would have been even more catastrophic,” they said.
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Insurance and irregularities
After the catastrophe, Transportadora Silza, the company to which the accident truck belonged, issued a statement assuming its legal and social responsibility, and assured that it had three active insurance policies to support the victims and their families.
These policies, valid until the end of 2025, included coverage for damage to third parties, moral damage and ecological damage.
Transportadora Silza described as false the information previously disseminated by the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbon Sector (ASEA), which had indicated that the company did not have valid insurance at the time of the accident.
Weeks after the accident, relatives of the victims reported that the lawyers assigned by the capital government were demanding a 20% commission on the total amount of compensation they received from the company, according to national media.
New rules after the accident
After the tragedy, local and federal authorities announced new regulations to strengthen safety in the transportation of fuels and hazardous materials.
In the capital, it was established that the pipes will not be able to carry more than 40,000 liters, they must circulate at a maximum of 30 kilometers per hour and they will have to travel between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.
At the national level, from October 15, digital verification of pipes using QR codes, certified periodic inspections, using speed governors and being monitored by GPS will be mandatory.
With information from EFE
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