A utility vehicle caught fire and exploded in General Paz, at the height of Avenida Cabildo, around 9:30 in the morning this Tuesday. The loud noise surprised the residents of Belgrano, Saavedra and Núñez, and even other more remote neighborhoods. A smoke screen covered the highway and the traffic was completely interrupted in the direction of Lugones.
The Undersecretariat of Emergencies of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires reported that it is a Fiat Fiorino pickup that it was set on fire for reasons that will be the subject of investigation. And they assured that the process was already dominated by the GER of the City Fire Department.
Sources of the City Police reported that in the vehicle two occupants were traveling, 57 and 28 years old, who descended as soon as they saw smoke coming from the bodywork and tried to put out the fire, without success. Both of them they are safe.
The first hypothesis holds that what exploded was the gas tank of the truck. At the moment, the police are conducting the expert reports in the area and, when finished, will proceed to remove the remains of the utility vehicle.
A video, showing the exact moment of explosion, was sent by a user to TN and the People. In the images, you can see the truck set on fire on the highway that, suddenly, explodes generating a very loud noise. Then, car alarms are heard that are activated by the shock wave.
In another footage, also sent to the citizen journalism portal, you can see the moment after the detonation, when an intense black smoke screen it begins to climb and can be seen from several blocks around.
Agustín, a neighbor of Saavedra who lives in a building next to General Paz, said that he felt a very loud noise and that everyone went out to the balconies. “It looked like the building was going to fall down. It was an impressive thing“acknowledged the man still shocked. The witness also noted that he saw how an ambulance was transporting a person.
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Another neighbor who could see the blast said that the first thing that caught his attention was the black smoke. “Here it is common for there to be accidents so it did not surprise me,” explained Mariano in dialogue with TN. “The point is that afterwards the fire became too intense and the explosion was felt made a kind of shock wave“added the man, adding that some paint chips came off the wall.
The witness of the detonation said that he went up to the terrace of the building in which he lives, right in front of the place of the fire, and could see that “pieces of truck flew“, so he considered it a miracle that there were no injuries.
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At the moment, there is delays in circulation but one lane of the highway has already been enabled. Minutes earlier, all vehicles were being diverted by collector.
In the social networks of the Undersecretary of Emergencies of the Government they shared photos in which you can see the fire department at work. In them, you can see the status of the totally destroyed vehicle.
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An expert explained in dialogue with TN than “It’s rare for a gas tank to explode”, since when there is a fire the security valve lets the fuel out very quickly. “There was a failure in the process or there is something that is not in order. It is very strange what has happened,” he remarked.
In addition to the aforementioned neighborhoods, on Twitter, residents of Villa Ortúzar, Villa Urquiza and even in some neighborhoods in the north of the suburbs, claimed to have felt the explosion.
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