Overview:
Eight folks, together with three youngsters, died after two tanker vans collided as one exploded within the southern entrance of Gonaïves on June 25, prompting requires tighter visitors enforcement and hearth security on nationwide roads.
GONAÏVES — Eight folks, together with three younger ladies from the identical household, died in a fiery collision involving two gas tanker vans on the southern entrance of Gonaïves—the capital metropolis of the Artibonite Division—on June 25. The high-speed crash triggered an enormous explosion, leaving the neighborhood in mourning and authorities renewing requires pressing reforms in highway security and hearth prevention throughout Haiti’s densely populated cities.
The tragedy as soon as once more underscores the hazards of Haiti’s chaotic transportation system, the place rushing, lack of regulation and minimal infrastructure contribute to a few of the area’s deadliest accidents. Nationwide roads, particularly close to populous city facilities like Gonaïves, are more and more hazardous resulting from unchecked heavy car visitors and insufficient enforcement of primary security requirements.
In line with Civil Safety officers in Artibonite, the explosion occurred when two rushing vans carrying gasoline northbound from Port-au-Prince collided. The pressure of the affect brought on one of many fuel-laden vans to flip and explode close to the Gaudin Bridge, a busy junction on Nationwide Street #1.
“Now we have confirmed that eight folks died on this accident. That’s the remaining toll,” stated Faustin Joseph, Artibonite’s Civil Safety coordinator.
“ This tragedy is past what I can bear. I’m terrified past perception.”
Roselande Ciceron, mom of the three youngsters killed
The victims included the tanker driver, a passenger, three motorcyclists and three schoolchildren—14-year-old Rodelanca Démosthène and her sisters, Woodmia, 11, and Woodmica, 10. They had been ready on the sidewalk close to the bridge for his or her father to choose them up for varsity when the lethal explosion occurred.
“I at all times received mad at him for not selecting up the children at house,” their mom, Roselande Ciceron, stated by means of tears. “Now, I’ve misplaced my three valuable daughters directly.”
“This tragedy is past what I can bear. I’m terrified past perception,” Ciceron, mom of 5, lamented.
A college principal and household good friend, Jean-Robert Silvernat of Pont Gaudin Nationwide College— a public elementary college within the space— was close by when the blast occurred. “They had been ready on the aspect of the highway. The tanker received hit at full pace, after which all of it went up in flames,” he stated.
Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH) officers and Civil Safety brigadiers responded shortly however had been unable to avoid wasting the victims trapped by the hearth. 4 died immediately, whereas 4 others died from extreme burns on the hospital later that day.
“We dispatched a justice of the peace, Daniel Pierre, to the scene,” stated Jacky Guillaume, chief inspector of Gonaïves visitors police, unable to establish the person or firm to which the gasoline provider belonged. “This was probably the most catastrophic highway incidents we’ve witnessed in recent times.”
“Now we have confirmed that eight folks died on this accident. That’s the remaining toll.”
Faustin Joseph, Artibonite’s Civil Safety coordinator
Authorities suspect each tanker drivers had been rushing in a race-like method. The realm the place the crash occurred—a slim hall close to a residential neighborhood—is understood for its visitors bottlenecks and lack of security signage. Regardless of earlier accidents close to the Gaudin Bridge, little may very well be accomplished to mitigate dangers.
This incident comes amid rising concern over Haiti’s rising highway fatalities. In 2024 alone, visitors accidents had been among the many main causes of violent dying within the nation, in keeping with nationwide well being officers. Main cities like Gonaïves, with restricted or no hearth companies and under-resourced emergency response models, stay significantly weak.
With no hearth division functioning for a decade, Gonaïves residents battle flames on their very own as authorities roadblocks stall options, placing residents’ lives at risk each time a hearth breaks out.
Lately, Haitian hearth prevention advocates and civil engineers have warned of the rising variety of hazardous cargo vans touring with out security protocols—particularly close to marketplaces and college zones.
“Stopping these accidents begins with strict visitors regulation enforcement and clear zoning,” stated Joseph in an interview with The Haitian Instances after the incident. “Till then, we are going to proceed to see preventable deaths like these.”
As Gonaïves prepares to bury its lifeless with out certainty of assist from native authorities, residents are demanding accountability and reforms.