Death toll in Dominican Republic explosion rises to 32; officials blame plastics company

The death toll in an explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital in a market areahas risen to 32, said officialson Saturday (August 19). This comes a day after Dominican authorities announced that they will be pursuing a criminal case against a plastics company based on the evidence found during investigation into the incident.

Rise in death toll

The explosion which occurred on Monday (August 14) sent shock waves through the area of San Cristobal, less than 30 kilometres west of the country’s capital Santo Domingo.

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The health ministry, on Saturday, reported that the death toll due to the blast has risen to 32, while out of the 59 people injured, 12 are still in the hospital, of which three were in intensive care and five in burn units.

Case against plastic company

The police and public ministry recently released a joint statement that said that the blast, which also damaged nine buildings and destroyed four, occurred at a business called Vidal Plast, rather than at a bakery as authorities had said initially.

“The Public Ministry has evidence that compromises the criminal responsibility of those responsible who, with their actions, caused the death of dozens of people and caused millions in losses,” said the statement, citing prosecutor Fadulia Rosa Rubio.

According to officials, the company Vidal Plast recycles, buys and sells plastic materials. They also said that they had evidence that there was a fire at the business back in March as well.

The company did not take any measures “despite knowing the high risk of its operations,” said the Dominican authorities, reported the Associated Press.

Search and rescue teams, some using sniffer dogs, continued to work at the site, said deputy director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), Julian Garcia, on Friday. He added, “Until all the rubble is removed, the search will not stop.”

Garcia also warned that the death toll could still rise. A report by AFP citing COE said that among the 32 killed “13 corpses have been identified and 11 bodies have been delivered to relatives.”

The government, on Thursday, said it could take up to three months to identify all those killed in the blast.

(With inputs from agencies)

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