A tanker truck loaded with LP gas has overturned this Monday on the highway that connects Tepic with Guadalajara, in the state of Nayarit.
The vehicle has lost control at kilometer 106, near the municipality of Jala, and has caused an accident with at least four other vehicles.
The resulting explosion could be seen from several kilometers away.
At the moment, at least 12 deaths and one injured person have been counted, as reported by the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit on its social networks.
The Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection has indicated that the trailer "circulated with sense to Guadalajara and after losing control it ended up overturning in the middle part of the highway and later the explosion occurred", according to the preliminary investigations of the event.
The details provided by the authorities on the networks have indicated that the tractor-trailer with a double tanker semi-trailer was transporting huge amounts of LP gas, with the company name Gómez Morín Torres.
By losing control, he has involved three other vehicles in the accident.
One of them is a white Honda City-type car with three dead people.
The second is a truck that was carrying five people, of whom there have been no survivors.
There are no further details on the last vehicle involved, as it was completely incinerated in the accident, but authorities say it was carrying three passengers.
In total, 12 people have lost their lives, and the only injured person recorded by the institution has been transferred to a hospital in the city of Tepic.
In #Nayarit traffic closure continues in both directions due to an accident km 106 + 000 Aut. (950) Guadalajara-Tepic (Direct) (Ent. Ameca-San Cayetano), same section.
#RutaAlterna Ctra. (705) Guadalajara-Tepic, Magdalena-San Cayetano section.
Pay attention to the road indication pic.twitter.com/Y52jrtwJ3p
- National Guard Roads (@GN_Carreteras) November 16, 2020
The Governor of the State, Antonio Echevarría García, has reported that the authorities have moved to the scene of the accident a few minutes after it occurred.
“A few minutes ago, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection informed me that on the Tepic-Guadalajara highway, at the height of the Jala-Compostela crossing, there was an explosion of a gas tanker, which has unfortunately left several people dead "He wrote on his Twitter account.
He added that elements of Citizen Protection and Firefighters, and the National Guard are treating victims at the scene.
The authorities, through the State Highway Police, have coordinated with the rescue and security teams, which continue to work in the area with helicopters and drones.
The National Guard has cut the highway in both directions near the incident, on the Magdalena-San Cayetano section.
