LIMA, Peru (AFP) — The death toll from the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima last month has risen to 30, Peru’s ministry of health said Thursday. Two women and a man were the most recent to succumb to burns from a fireball that occurred when the tanker truck carrying 10,000 liters (2,642 gallons) of liquefied gas exploded on January 23. Initially, only two people were killed and 50 injured, but the death toll […]
Tag: Peru
Death toll in Peru tanker explosion rises to 15
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — The death toll from the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima has risen to 15 following the death of a child with severe burns, Peru’s health ministry said Monday. Nearly 50 people were injured, including six children, when a tanker truck carrying 10,000 liters of liquefied gas exploded on Thursday, igniting a major fire that destroyed several houses and vehicles in the capital’s Villa El Salvador district. Five of the […]
Opposition leader Keiko Fujimori leaves prison in Peru
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru opposition leader Keiko Fujimori was released from prison Friday after spending 13 months in pre-trial detention in a corruption case linked to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Her release comes days after the country’s Constitutional Court ordered her freed in a ruling related only to her detention and which otherwise has no bearing on the corruption case against her. “For me, it was the most painful event of my life,” […]
Six dead as roof collapses on Peru costume party
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — At least six people died and 40 were injured after a hailstorm caused a roof to collapse on a costume party in central Peru, authorities said. Around 1,000 people were in the building at the time of the accident on Sunday, according to local media. Some are still trapped in the rubble and five of the injured are in a serious condition, police said. The incident occurred during a local […]
Priest shortage in Amazon eroding Catholic influence, warns bishops in Brazil and Peru
by Allison Jackson, with Valeria Pacheco in Puerto Maldonado, Peru Agence France Presse ITAITUBA, Brazil (AFP) — A shortage of Catholic priests in the Amazon is eroding the church’s influence in the remote region, bishops in Brazil and Peru warn, ahead of a Vatican synod dedicated to the rainforest. Wilmar Santin, one of scores of Brazilian bishops set to attend the October 6-27 gathering, says the church is ceding ground to more nimble Evangelical […]
At least 17 killed as bus plunges off cliff in Peru
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — At least 17 people were killed and some 30 injured when a passenger bus plunged off a cliff on Tuesday in the mountainous Cusco region of Peru, local police said. Police are trying to determine why the bus driver sent the vehicle off the road and into a 100-meter deep ravine. The accident took place around dawn Tuesday as the bus, with 48 passengers, was heading from the Amazon rainforest city […]
Peru in crisis as president dissolves Congress
by Francisco JARA LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s President Martin Vizcarra consolidated power Tuesday in a tense stand-off with the opposition over corruption, confirming the backing of the armed forces, police and the international community after dissolving Congress. Opposition lawmakers accused Vizcarra of mounting a “coup d’etat,” voting to suspend him temporarily from the presidency and appointing Vice President Mercedes Araoz as leader in what appeared to be a token gesture of defiance. Thousands of […]
Peru court cuts jail time for opposition leader Keiko Fujimori
by Luis Jaime CISNEROS Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s Supreme Court on Thursday halved the pre-trial detention of Keiko Fujimori, paving the way for the opposition leader to leave jail in April of next year. Fujimori, 44, was ordered held for 36 months last October in a corruption case linked to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Fujimori, who is detained at a women’s prison south of the capital Lima, had petitioned the […]
US warns off Venezuela allies as Lima meeting opens
by Luis Jaime CISNEROS / Francisco JARA LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Washington warned China and Russia on Tuesday to avoid doing business with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, as delegates from some 60 countries met in Lima to discuss ways of ending the crisis in the South American nation. The admonition came a day after President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred transactions with […]
Magnitude 8 quake toll in Peru rises to two dead
by Carlos MANDUJANO Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rocked parts of Peru and neighboring Ecuador rose to two on Monday, with more than 30 people injured, authorities said. Sunday’s 8.0-earthquake hit a sparsely populated region of Peru’s Amazon basin region but was felt over a wide area. Reports were still coming in Monday from remote areas affected by the quake, which also rattled the […]
Strong 8.0-magnitude earthquake jolts Peru
by Carlos MANDUJANO LIMA, PERU (AFP) — A powerful 8.0-earthquake struck northern Peru in the early hours of Sunday, toppling houses, blocking roads and knocking out power to some localities. One person was killed and 18 others injured as the shockwave extended into neighboring Ecuador, authorities said. “There are many old houses that have collapsed after this strong earthquake,” said Hugo Araujo, the mayor of Yurimaguas, a town near the epicenter. The quake hit in […]
Strong 8.0-magnitude earthquake hits Peru
A strong 8.0-earthquake struck northern Peru in the early hours of Sunday, sending residents fleeing their homes and cutting off power to at least one town, with the impact felt as far afield as neighboring Ecuador. There were no immediate reports of injuries following the quake which the US Geological Survey said struck at a depth of 110 kilometers (68 miles). The quake hit t 0741 GMT about 75 kilometers southeast of the town of […]
