At least 37 people were killed and scores injured late on Sunday night when a truck carrying explosives blew up after crashing into a pickup truck and catching fire, state and federal authorities said.
The victims included three local reporters, four paramedics, three police officers and more than a score of residents of the nearby village of Celamania. All were looking at the burning wreckage of the two vehicles when an enormous explosion ripped them apart and left a crater 4.5m deep and 18m across, officials said.
"The tractor-trailer turned over and started to burn," Jesus Torres Charles, the Coahuila State attorney general, explained in a radio interview. "When rescuers arrived, along with a local police unit and three local reporters, the explosion occurred."
Fausto Destenave Kuri, the state secretary of public security, said in a separate radio interview that the truck had been carrying more than 22,700kg of ammonium nitrate, an explosive used in the mining industry. The driver was trucking the explosive from the town of Cuatro Cienegas toward the border to deliver it to a company identified as Takata, the federal police said.
Later in the day, Takata put out a statement denying the shipment was theirs.
The truck had been leased by Orica, a company that transports explosives for the mining industry in the state. About 10:30pm on Sunday, the truck hit a pickup carrying a family, officials said. The accident occurred about 32km from Monclova on the two-lane highway toward San Pedro de las Colonias, just outside the city of Torreon.
Governor Humberto Moreira of Coahuila said the driver got out of his wrecked cab and warned motorists stuck on the highway because of the accident that the truck carried explosives. The driver then disappeared and has not been arrested, he said.
About 240 people were taken in buses to a hospital in Monclova, where at least 30 underwent surgery, Moreira said.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS