Five maintenance workers were killed Saturday morning when a fuel tanker barge exploded on the Paraguay River, in one of the deadliest recent accidents involving river vessels in Paraguay.
The explosion occurred in the morning hours at a mooring in the Zanja H area, on the right bank of the river opposite the Costanera Sur, a waterfront road linking the capital city of Asunción with the neighbouring city of Lambaré. The vessel had six workers on board at the time. Five were killed. The sixth, outside the barge when the blast occurred, was pulled to safety with minor injuries.
The vessel was a tanker barge owned by a private Paraguayan company, which specialises in the fluvial transport of fuels, gases and bulk. These types of tanker barges have no engines of their own, and are pushed along river routes by tugboats. The barge was not carrying any cargo at the time of the incident and had workers on board who were working on maintenance.
Several specialised units
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