A devastating gas truck explosion rocked Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring 90 others, officials confirmed.
The tanker, carrying 49,500 liters of gas, overturned beneath a bridge before erupting into flames in one of the city’s most densely populated neighborhoods of 1.8 million residents.
Mayor Clara Brugada said 19 victims suffered severe second- and third-degree burns, while others were treated for injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to blunt-force trauma. Ten patients have since been discharged, she added.
Television and social media images captured the moment of the blast — a powerful fireball that engulfed vehicles and sent panicked residents fleeing as flames spread rapidly. Firefighters later brought the inferno under control, while helicopters airlifted some of the most critical victims.
Security Secretary Pablo Vázquez revealed that surveillance footage showed “people who abandoned the vehicle with fire on their bodies.” Authorities reported that 28 vehicles were damaged in the blast, which also disrupted a nearby trolleybus station, a key transit hub in the metropolis of 9.2 million people.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the truck’s operating permit was not in order and that its owner had failed to file the mandatory insurance policy, according to a federal safety agency.
Hundreds of paramedics and soldiers joined the emergency response in what officials described as one of Mexico City’s most serious fuel-related accidents in recent years.
Mexico has a tragic history of fuel transport disasters. The deadliest occurred in January 2019, when an explosion on a looted pipeline in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo, killed 137 people.
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