Less than 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the capital Santo Domingo, in the commercial district of San Cristobal, a blast on Monday jolted the neighbourhood, setting up a fire that was still burning hours later and sending up a massive column of smoke.
explosion in Dominican Republic: Top emergency official Juan Manuel Mendez updated the death toll on Tuesday evening and stated that more remains were being sought out.
There are additional corpses, he stated, adding that there are 11 (identified bodies).
Emergency personnel said that 37 of the 59 injured victims were still in hospitals.
Abinader paid a visit to the explosion’s scene earlier in the day and sent condolences to the victims’ families.
Abinader declared, “We are doing all that is humanly possible” to locate the missing individuals.
A four-month-old baby was among the fatalities, according to the authorities on Monday.
The explosion’s exact origin and cause have not been established.
Several local businesses were impacted by the explosion, including a plastics plant, a veterinary clinic, and a hardware shop. Several automobiles sustained burn damage.
Numerous people looked for missing family members at neighbouring hospitals as images of the missing were shared on social media.
A witness told the daily Listin Diario, “The windows of the house shook strongly and I thought there had been an earthquake.”
However, Some of the injured, according to local media, had burns covering up to 40% of their bodies.