ASSOCIATED PRESS (BY MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA AND DÁNICA COTO) —Dominican authorities introduced late Friday that they’re pursuing a felony case towards a plastics firm primarily based on proof discovered throughout an investigation into a powerful explosion this week that killed a minimum of 31 folks.
Police and the Public Ministry issued a joint assertion saying the blast occurred at a enterprise referred to as Vidal Plast, moderately than at a bakery as authorities had mentioned initially. The explosion occurred Monday afternoon in a bustling industrial heart in San Cristobal, a metropolis simply west of the capital of Santo Domingo.
“The Public Ministry has proof that compromises the felony accountability of these accountable who, with their actions, prompted the demise of dozens of individuals and prompted thousands and thousands in losses,” the assertion mentioned, citing prosecutor Fadulia Rosa Rubio.
The ministry mentioned it was investigating a number of folks, however didn’t determine them.
The homeowners of Vidal Plast couldn’t be instantly reached for remark. The corporate recycles, buys and sells plastic supplies, officers mentioned.
Authorities additionally mentioned they’ve proof that there was a hearth on the enterprise in March brought on by a spark and a chemical substance and that the corporate didn’t take any measures “regardless of figuring out the excessive threat of its operations.”
Víctor Bisonó, the minister of business and commerce, informed reporters that the municipality had closed the manufacturing facility up to now, however he didn’t present extra particulars.
N Digital, a revered on-line newspaper within the Dominican Republic, reported that the corporate was based in 2003. It quoted one of many firm’s founders as saying that the manufacturing facility was not working and that two of its staff had been merely eradicating materials from the location when the explosion occurred, with one among then being killed.
Officers on Friday additionally raised the variety of useless to 31 from 28. They mentioned seven of the useless had been recognized up to now. On Thursday, the federal government mentioned it could take up to three months to identify all those killed in the blast.
An extra 59 folks had been injured within the blast, and the bulk stay hospitalized.
San Cristobal, the birthplace of dictator Rafael Trujillo, was the location of one other explosion almost 23 years in the past. An arms depot blew up in October 2000, killing a minimum of two folks and injured greater than two dozen, forcing authorities to evacuate 1000’s.
