Fourteen people were killed and 16 others injured Thursday when a tanker-truck carrying gasoline flipped over and burst into flames on a busy highway in the Venezuelan capital, authorities said.
“We have counted 12 bodies plus two bodies in private vehicles, there are around 16 injured,” the head of the National Police, Luis Fernandez, told state television.
The mayor of the capital municipality of Los Salias, Ovidio Lozada, said the fatalities include at least three minors.
Eight vehicles - the truck, a bus and six private vehicles - were “totally burned,” he told Union Radio.
While the fire has been brought under control, the highway will remain closed pending the removal of the charred vehicles and the spilled fuel, emergency services chief Luis Diaz Curbelo said on state television.
