Haiti gas tanker explodes, 16 die and officials work to save burn victims

(New throughout, updates victim information, adds witness account, background)

By Harold Isaac and Steven Aristil

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A fuel truck exploded on a road in Haiti's southern peninsula on Saturday, killing at least 16 people and leaving 40 survivors with serious burns, officials said.

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille said emergency teams were working to "save the lives of the seriously injured" after the incident, which occurred in the morning near the coastal city of Miragoane in the department of Nippes.

"The government stands in solidarity with all the victims and their families," Conille said in a social media post.

Authorities in Nippes said 16 bodies were completely charred and unrecognizable.

A witness to the incident said the truck's gas tank had been punctured by another vehicle, and people rushed to the site to collect fuel.

"There were a lot of people. Those who were close to the truck got pulverized," said the man, who did not give his name, in a video interview with local outlet Echo Haiti Media.

When asked how many people might have been killed in the blast, he said it was difficult to say.

"You can't know, because there were a lot of people, bystanders and those collecting oil. There were a lot of people," he said.

Fuel deliveries to the Miragoane area have slowed in recent weeks as trucks were transported via ferry to avoid gang-controlled highways surrounding the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The spread of gangs in the capital and surrounding areas has fueled a humanitarian crisis with mass displacements, sexual violence, child recruitment and widespread hunger. A

state of emergency is now in place nationwide.

Haiti's civil protection agency reported the identities of a 31-year-old man and two 23-year-old men who suffered burns over 89% of their bodies, and were being treated in a hospital in Les Cayes, in southern Haiti.

Two of them sustained second-degree burns, the agency said.

A similar incident in 2021 in the city of Cap-Haitien killed at least 60 people, after people were also thought to have been attempting to take fuel from a tanker truck. (Reporting by Harold Isaac and Steven Aristil, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Alistair Bell and David Gregorio)