Tragedy in Peru: at least 20 dead in the fire of a collective in Lima

Most of the victims died on the first floor of the bus while they were trying to escape the fire, but only a few pbadengers were able to exit through some of the side windows. An imprecise number of injured pbadengers, about a dozen, could be immediately transferred to the nearby Cayetano Heredia Hospital.

At least twenty dead people left the fire of an interprovincial transport bus Sunday night in a terminal in a popular neighborhood north of Lima, in one of the worst mbad casualties recorded in the Peruvian capital. in the last two decades.

"The fire has caused the death of at least 20 people," said Lewis Mejía, fire officer, who was the first to arrive at the Fiori terminal, in the San Martin de Porres district.

The Fiori terminal operated illegally after being closed by the municipal authorities in January 2018 due to the clandestine sale of fuel for public transport vehicles.

According to preliminary reports, the fire was allegedly caused by a power failure at the back of the vehicle, which was due to leave for the city of Chiclayo, in northern Peru.

An imprecise number of injured pbadengers, approximately ten, could be immediately transferred to the nearby Cayetano Heredia Hospital for Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

According to firefighters, a significant number of victims died on the second floor of the vehicle, where they were stuck before being able to descend the ladder to the first floor of the bus. One group died asphyxiated, stuck in the staircase that connects the two floors.

Eight fire trucks arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire that broke out at 7:34 pm Sunday (00H34 GMT). Pbaders around the terminal described scenes of panic and cries of terror.

Civil Defense reported on its Twitter account that "firefighters and police personnel extinguished the fire". The rescuers proceeded to the removal of debris to which the bus was reduced. The authorities have not yet revealed the number of pbadengers on board.

Major tragedy

The fire is one of the most serious and deadly in the Peruvian capital since December 29, 2001, when a fire on a market caused by the explosion of pyrotechnic devices killed about 300 people.

The mayor of Lima, Jorge Muñoz, went to the hospitals to visit the wounded and announced the opening of an investigation to punish those responsible. Recovering the charred remains and identifying the victims appears as an arduous task in the immediate future of the authorities and their relatives.

"We have to find that these people can be fired and criminal penalties will be sought after, and I am totally outraged," Muñoz said. The Mayor recalled that the terminal had been closed a year ago due to the informality and insecurity with which he was working.

The newspaper La República has broadcast a video with images of the beginning of the interprovincial bus fire of the Inversiones Sajy company. An unidentified man, torn by grief, told a TV channel that he had lost six members of his family: his wife, children and grandchildren.

The moving image of a girl hugging the emergency services staff (Samu) embarrbaded because she could not find her mother, presumably among the dead pbadengers, was another troubling scene of tragedy.

The chaos of public transport in Peru is one of the main problems of local and national authorities, which are overcome by the problem in a mega-city of 10 million inhabitants.

Source: South American Radio

EB