SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The loss of life toll from this week’s highly effective explosion within the Dominican Republic rose to 27 on Wednesday as firefighters continued efforts to extinguish the persistent fireplace set off by the blast, the nationwide emergency director mentioned.
Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, additionally mentioned there have been now not any individuals believed lacking. Earlier, authorities cited 10 lacking however mentioned that may change as forensic officers recognized our bodies discovered by search groups.
Firefighters nonetheless haven’t been in a position to totally put out the fires in a constructing the place the explosion occurred Monday at a bakery within the metropolis of San Cristobal, which lies simply west of the capital of Santo Domingo.
Anguished family and friends have been pacing exterior hospitals and morgues in anger and frustration, saying nobody has been offering them info.
Meanwhile, authorities are probing what may need brought on the explosion, vowing to crack down on any enterprise which may not have been following laws.
Ito Bisonó, minister of trade and commerce, advised reporters that officers have already got decided there have been no tanks of any sort within the space, including that he’s ready on authorities to analyze what occurred.
“It was of great magnitude,” he mentioned of the explosion.
Bisonó spoke inside a cathedral in San Cristobal that held a service Wednesday for many who died, with mourners dressed largely in white filling the constructing to standing room solely.
Méndez, mentioned at a information convention late Tuesday that if an unidentified manufacturing unit was working illegally as some residents have alleged, the investigation would make clear that.
“If there is some type of culpability or not, the investigation will determine that,” he mentioned. “We will take legal action.”
At least 59 individuals have been injured within the blast, which occurred in a bustling business space within the metropolis’s middle and destroyed 4 buildings and broken 9 others. More than 30 individuals stay hospitalized with situations together with fractures, burns and respiratory issues. Two firefighters additionally have been handled for smoke inhalation.
More than 30 ambulances and a few 500 personnel together with rescuers and officers responded to the incident.
Toxic smoke nonetheless hovered over the explosion website, with well being officers urging individuals to put on face masks.
San Cristobal, the birthplace of dictator Rafael Trujillo, was the positioning of one other explosion almost 23 years in the past. An arms depot exploded in October 2000, killing no less than two individuals and injured greater than two dozen others, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds.
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Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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