It happened in Aguer and Reconquista, a few blocks from the Chilavert station. A crew was working on a repair, but they broke a main pipe.
The flames affect a building with four apartments. The despair of the neighbors.
The breakage of a gas master pipe caused a large explosion in the town of Villa Ballester, in the Buenos Aires district of San Martín. At least two people were injured.
The episode occurred in Aguer and Reconquista, this Thursday at 1:02 p.m., when a crew was working on repairs on a sidewalk In the middle of this task, a backhoe machine damaged a master pipe, which generated the explosion that was felt for several blocks around and caused serious damage to the homes.
The scenes of fire and the desperation of the neighbors were portrayed in videos that social media users uploaded to their accounts.
The flames, about 3 meters highaffected a building on the block.
There are two people injured, one of them a woman who was taken to the Thompson hospital in San Martín. The other affected person, also transferred to that medical center, is a 77-year-old man who he threw himself with a mattress from the first floor to escape the flames.
“A horror movie was lived, I was in the grocery store and all the glass was smashed. “It was a disaster,” said one of the neighbors affected by the explosion, in TN.
Less than 24 hours ago, the Municipal Delegation of Villa Ballester had shown on its social networks the patching works being carried out on Aguar Street, in an area of seven blocks.
“Patching works are being carried out on Prof. Aguer, along 700 meters between Lafayette and Reconquista. Due to this, the area is affected with traffic interruptions. The same will continue on Marengo and Artigas streets, within the framework of the Patching and Repaving Plan for the main streets of the city,” indicated municipal sources.
Neighbors complained about not having answers of the Municipality of San Martín due to the material losses of the homes.
In addition, they reported that the company workers who caused the pipe to break left the scene.
Firefighters from San Martín continue to work on the block and mobile phones from the Buenos Aires Police and SAME arrived to assist in the event that there is a more affected neighbor.
“We lost everything”: the desperation of neighbors and uncertainty about pets
“This is crazy., everything is going to explode. We lost everything and no one gives us answers,” exclaimed a man who lives meters from where the explosion occurred.
“Windows were blown out. We lost everything. We are four departments that lost everything. We don’t know anything about our animals, a dog disappeared,” said Aidé, another local, in conversation with C5N.
One of the injured is Oscar, 78, a neighbor who jumped from the first floor to escape. The man was taken to Thompson Hospital. He “he could not open the kitchen door, swollen by the shock wave of the explosion. “He opened the window, threw the mattress and then he threw himself on the sidewalk,” said Anadiel, nephew of the victim, in LN+.
The Naturgy companywhich supplies gas to the area, issued a statement and distanced itself from the incident: it assured that the breakage of the pipe was caused by personnel unrelated to that firm.
“This led to a breakage, leak, fire and subsequent explosion. The company is working on pressing the pipes and then working on the repair and the damaged section,” the company reported.
“Meanwhile, several fire crews are working to control the fire. The corner is provided by four pipes which are accessed through different excavations. The gas venting is maintained for safety reasons,” Naturgy reported.
Due to the venting maneuvers, the flames continued hours after the explosion. They thus sought to prevent an accumulation of gas that would lead to a new explosion, while they controlled the distribution of gas in a stepwise manner.
“Four excavations had to be carried out to locate the pipes and proceed to press them to cut off the supply to the accident site, a maneuver that allowed us to avoid having to cut off the supply in neighboring areas,” explained Verónica Argañaraz, Naturgy Communication Director.
The cause, labeled as “wrongful injuries”is processed in UFI Number 4, led by Dr. Ana Rosa De Leo, who must resolve the situation of the 33-year-old man who was driving the backhoe and who was transferred to the area police station to testify.
