Blast Destroys Haiti Fuel Center
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An explosion destroyed Haiti’s center for contraband gasoline and diesel fuel Saturday night, gutting a stretch of warehouses, stores, a hotel, and two loaded fuel trucks.
The cause of the blast was unknown. No casualties were reported.
The explosion along the Rue de Cesar in downtown Port-au-Prince could be seen throughout the Haitian capital. Tens of thousands of gallons of contraband fuel were stored in the warehouses. People on the scene said the two fuel trucks had come from the neighboring Dominican Republic.
The loss will intensify the already severe fuel shortage in Haiti, which was placed under a U.N. fuel embargo in October to pressure military leaders, who overthrew elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1991, to step down.
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