At least 1 dead and 22 injured after explosion in Barrancabermeja, Colombia

(CNN Spanish) — An explosion on Saturday night at a gas company in Barrancabermeja, Santander department, left at least one dead, 22 people injured –including minors–, and 3 missing, reported the city ​​hall On twitter.

According to the authorities, all the people were immediately transferred to hospitals and the relief agencies together with the firefighters worked all night to control the flames.

This Sunday, the authorities indicated that they evacuated the elderly and pregnant women from the affected area because there is still a smell of gas in the area.

The mayor of Barrancabermeja, Alfonso Eljach, declared a hospital yellow alert to activate all the emergency units of the city’s healthcare centers.

According to a statement from the mayor’s office, Eljach thanked “the volunteer firefighters, the Civil Defense, Army and Police and all the relief bodies that have done all the necessary work to mitigate the situation, to be able to work together with the people who are in the place and carry out the contingency plan that allows us to determine each of the situations that occurred in the place, but also provide all the assistance tasks to the families and merchants”.