The streak of unfortunate episodes began on February 27th, 2022, when a three-story building exploded in the complex “Residences Terrarmar Villas”, located in the Urbaneja Municipality. There were five injured and the expansive wave destroyed windows, doors, walls and other parts of the infrastructure.
By correspondent lapatilla.com
On April 3rd of that same year it was the turn of the “Villa Caribe Residential” complex, in Nueva Barcelona. The apartment where the event happened had been uninhabited for a long time and right in those days was rented by a couple. Both were injured and later the woman died.
Three weeks later, specifically on the 26th of that month, a house exploded in Residences Puerto Príncipe, in Lecherías. On that occasion, only the owner was harmed and only suffered minor injuries.
On June 28th there was a new event of this type in a building located on Pedro María Freites Avenue in Barcelona, where there was a laboratory. Because of the incident, the place was almost completely destroyed and two women who worked on the site perished.
Then on August 15th the situation was repeated, but this time in a house in the hill sector “Colinas del Esfuerzo” in the capital of Anzoategui State. A man and a woman were injured, but the latter took the worst part, because she did not survive the burns in 98% of her body.
Since then, no more explosions caused by gas leaks had occurred, until last Tuesday, April 25th, when it was the turn of a house in the township of Pueblo Viejo, located in the outskirts of Puerto La Cruz and Lechería. Two people were killed and three were injured, plus the material losses. This was the tragic balance that left the explosion.
Chance or causality?
There are those who affirm these explosions caused by leaks of domestic gas are unrelated events that occur in isolation, either due to an defect in some cylinder or by some imperfection in valves or direct supply gas pipes.
According to the authorities at the time, all of the events last year were caused by leaks that then ended in disaster, but there was no in depth investigation to find the causes of the repetitive failures, or at least, they were not made public.
Precisely for that reason the Deputy of the Legislative Council of Anzoátegui State (Cleanz), Rafael Bottaro, had requested in mid 2022 to open inquiries. The parliamentarian said at that time that he met with active and retired engineers from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and it was determined that the problem was caused by the lack of anticorrosive chemicals and the consequent presence of H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide acid) in gas mains and distribution pipes.
Supposedly, this acid is harmful to copper ducts, since it corrodes them and that is how the leaks are generated. In addition to this, the Venezuelan Gas (VDGAS) company in certain cases did not attend to the warning calls made by the neighbors prior to the events, while in others the lack of mercaptan was mentioned. Mercaptan is the substance (Gas) used to provide the characteristic “odor” of gas and that alerts people when there is a leak.
In fact, prior to the explosions in Villa Caribe, on Pedro María Freites Avenue and the Colinas de El Esfuerzo neighborhood, the locals reported the pungent smell of gas in the environment, but did not receive an effective response by authorities and finally that carelessness cost the lives of people.
In the case of Pueblo Viejo, the Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, Remigio Ceballos, declared that after the inquiries it was determined that the explosion was due to sudden combustion, caused by the accumulation of flammable gases. He also ruled out the presence of high explosive materiel and added that the absence of mercaptan was verified, so the provider (VDGAS itself) was being investigated. The latter was confirmed by the Attorney General of the regime, Tarek William Saab.
Contact was attempted with the company’s spokesmen on Thursday, April 27th, but the company only replied that they kept working with the different security forces to clarify the event.
Special attention
Assuming that the explosion in Pueblo Viejo was caused by a gas leak, as the Chavista authorities have said again and again, the intense investigations, even the assignment of prosecutors in this case, somehow feed the hypothesis that there is a sinister background.
In the opinion of Atahualpa Montes, who was general commissioner of the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (Disip) and was in charge of several security corps a few decades ago, this episode was not the product of chance, but a “criminal attack executed by experts”.
“In the explosion it is clearly observed that the shock wave goes predominantly upwards and of course to the sides, with a predominance of the upwards shockwave that rises at least 50 meters or more, while the lateral action damages only the closest homes and breaks windows of some more distant ones,” he stated in a written communique.
He added that the type of explosives used could be anything, from common dynamite to TNT or another more modern and easy to work with explosive. He mentioned that the smoke seen on images was clean, white, and virtually flameless, except upon ignition along with the subsequent detonation. “None of these elements is consistent with an explosion due to ignition of gases accumulated in a closed space.”
“The explosive charge must have been placed under the house, among other reasons, because it would be the most appropriate place without need to enter the house and because it could have been done at night with total impunity, given the ease of access to the place and the type of construction on pontoons or pillars.”
It must be remembered that the property belongs to Ernesto Guevara, who is an oil businessman allegedly involved in illegal acts within the industry, and a corruption plot was recently uncovered in PDVSA that has caused a stir in different factions of the Chavismo power structure.
Caution
It is worth taking into account some recommendations in case a gas leak is detected at home, since it is important to take immediate measures to avoid dire consequences.
The main steps to follow are:
1) Open all the windows and doors in the house to allow the gas to escape outside.
2) Close the main gas tap to cut off the supply.
3) Do not turn any electrical switch on or off, as this may generate a spark and cause an explosion.
4) It is recommended to avoid using mobile phones, as ithis can also generate a spark.
5) Leave the house and notify the neighbors so that they take the same precautions.
6) Once outside the home and these steps have been completed, the emergency services or the gas distribution company must be called immediately so that they may send a specialized technician or team to repair the leak.