Terrifying moment gas leak sets off explosion at Dominican Republic bakery injuring five people
A surveillance camera captured the moment an explosion destroyed a bakery in the Dominican Republic.
Footage shows a woman standing at the entrance to the bakery and a vehicle driving by when an explosion rocks the store in the north-central city of La Vega on Thursday morning.
The oven explosion shattered the bakery’s window, sending a metal pole and glass shards onto the street.
The doors of the adjacent dental clinic were blown open by the impact of the blast before the frightened woman ran inside to seek safety.
Six men then ran out of the store before a bystander rushed to an injured person and took off his tank top.
The La Vega Fire Department said the explosion was caused by a gas leak in a furnace
La Vega fire brigade Colonel General CĂ©sar Abreu told Noticias SIN that the explosion was caused by gas that had accumulated in the oven.
The powerful explosion also caused the ceiling to collapse in one of the clinic’s sadr offices, where a patient was being treated. The dentist and patient were not injured.
One of the injured employees was identified as Julio RuĂz, who was at the oven baking bread. At least 55 percent of his body was burned, Dr. Francisco Ulerio said.
Bakery workers Cristofer Felipe, 27, and his uncle Dany NĂșñez were also injured, suffering burns covering 20 to 55 percent of their bodies.
The bakery explosion also damaged an office in an adjacent dental clinic while a dentist was treating a patient – they were not injured
Firefighters investigate the destruction at a bakery in La Vega, Dominican Republic, after an oven exploded due to a gas leak. Three employees, a five-year-old girl and a firefighter were treated for burns
A woman runs into the street on Thursday after an oven exploded at a bakery in La Vega, Dominican Republic
âLet’s hope that there really is nothing to regret, except that lives are fine, apart from the issue of the burn,â said Felipe’s aunt, JazmĂn Felipe. “But it was a very difficult moment for everyone.”
Carlos RodrĂguez, 35, and a five-year-old girl were treated for minor injuries.
A firefighter, whose name was not released, was treated for smoke inhalation and third-degree burns.
Noticias SIN reported that one of the victims was taken to a hospital 130 kilometers away in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital.