More than 60 killed, several others injured as fuel truck exploded in Haiti

Officials said more than 60 people lost their lives as a fuel tanker exploded in northern Haiti. According to reports, the vehicle was involved in an accident at Cap-Hatien, and the victims were attempting to collect leaking petrol when it catched fire.

The number of people injured in the blast has overloaded local hospitals.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared three days of mourning after the catastrophe, saying that the entire Caribbean nation is in grief.

On Tuesday, he posted on Twitter, "I learnt, with despair and emotion, the awful news of the explosion last night in Cap-Hatien."

Images shared on social media show a massive fire at the accident site in Haiti's second-largest city. The bomb site was characterised as "hell" by one witness.

The explosion injured dozens of people, and local medics warned that the death toll might climb.

"We don't have the capacity to treat the quantity of severely burned victims," a nurse at Justinien University Hospital told AFP. "I'm afraid we won't be able to save them all," she added..

"We are overwhelmed," a local doctor told the Haitian publication Le Nouvelliste.

Mayor Yvrose Pierre stated, "We need human resources as well as material resources, such as serum, gauze, and anything else that can be used in the event of serious burns."

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To assist those impacted, the government announced the establishment of field hospitals in the area, and Prime Minister Henry travelled to the scene on Tuesday accompanied by doctors and health professionals.

"I witness the critical situation of some of our compatriots with a torn heart," he remarked after visiting a local hospital.

Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor told reporters earlier that the bodies he saw when he went to the blast site were so badly burned that they couldn't be identified.

He went on to say that the explosion had set fire to roughly 20 residences in the vicinity.

The incident occurs while Haiti faces a serious fuel crisis, since violent gangs have taken control of much of the country's petroleum distribution. Following the killing of President Jovenel Moise earlier this year, Haiti is in the midst of a serious economic and political crisis.