A gas tanker truck exploded and ignited more than two dozen vehicles beneath a Mexico City highway overpass on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring roughly 70 others, authorities said. Investigators were working to determine the crash's cause while regulators said the vehicle did not have up-to-date insurance required to transport fuel.
The tanker, which officials said was carrying more than 13,000 gallons (about 49,500 liters) of gas, overturned and caught fire on the highway that links Mexico City and Puebla in the capital’s most populous borough, Iztapalapa. The blast and ensuing blaze left a scene of badly burned survivors stumbling in the street, and many of the injured suffered second- and third-degree burns. Lists of the injured showed that some suffered burns over 100% of their bodies; among those hurt were a baby and a 2-year-old child.
First responders and neighbors raced to the scene to pull people from burning vehicles and render aid as emergency crews treated the wounded. Ambulances transported many victims to hospitals where medical staff worked to stabilize those with severe burns. Authorities said dozens of vehicles were burned in the blaze and that some survivors were left in tattered clothing after escaping the fire.
The tanker bore the logo of energy company Silza, but a company official who declined to be named told The Associated Press that the vehicle was not theirs. Later Wednesday, the federal agency charged with regulating industrial safety in the hydrocarbon sector issued a statement saying Silza did not have updated insurance paperwork required to transport gas.
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada called the incident "a horrible accident" at the scene, and President Claudia Sheinbaum posted condolences on X, thanking emergency teams for their response. Local authorities provided the initial casualty figures while federal investigators continued on-site examinations to determine whether mechanical failure, human error or other factors led to the crash and explosion.
The disaster renewed scrutiny of the thousands of trucks that move liquid propane through Mexico daily. Residents and businesses in many parts of the country rely on propane for cooking and heating water, and both large tanker trucks and smaller delivery vehicles have been linked to fatal incidents in past years. In 2020 a double tanker carrying liquid propane flipped on a highway in the western state of Nayarit and caught fire, killing 13 people when the blaze spread to other vehicles. In 2015, a leak from a smaller propane-truck delivery at a Mexico City maternity hospital caused a blast that killed five people and injured dozens.
Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the dead or a complete list of the injured. Investigators from municipal and federal agencies continued to gather evidence at the scene and review paperwork related to the tanker and its operation as they work to establish a definitive cause.