Death toll touches 11 in explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital

The death toll from a powerful explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital rose to 11 on Tuesday, with dozens injured. Firefighters were searching through smoldering rubble as people gathered outside hospitals, looking for missing loved ones.
President Luis Abinader visited San Cristobal, located just west of Sango Domingo, to meet with those affected, saying an additional 11 people were missing and that authorities were still trying to extinguish the fire amid collapsed buildings and charred vehicles.
“We’re doing everything humanly possible … to investigate the situation of the 11 missing,” he said. “The search for survivors has been very difficult.”
Monday’s explosion also left more than 50 people injured as the blast tore through a bustling commercial center in San Cristobal, authorities said. At least 36 of the injured remained hospitalized, said Joel Santos, minister of the presidency.
Health Minister Daniel Rivera said authorities have still not been able to access “ground zero” where the explosion occurred because the site was still burning.
Estefani Alcántara said her family was shopping when the explosion occurred. Her uncle, 42, is hospitalized with serious injuries and her aunt is still missing.
“We don’t know if she’s dead or alive,” she said with tearful eyes as she waited outside a local hospital, feeling full of “frustration, pain and distress.”
Meanwhile, Jeni Benzan de los Santos said her sister and baby niece died in the explosion, and that her father remains missing. “They won’t let me into the morgue to see if I can identify my father,” she said. The country’s emergency telephone system said the explosion occurred at a bakery in the city’s center, a bustling area known as “Old Marketplace,” where people buy goods ranging from vegetables to clothes. The fire then spread to a hardware store next door and a nearby furniture store.
More than 500 first responders and officials responded to the explosion, which destroyed four buildings and damaged nine others, Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Emergency Operations Center, told reporters.