It sounded like bombs were being dropped and the ground shook so hard some Maraval residents believed they were about to be killed by a major earthquake.
This was their description of yesterday’s explosion at the El Pecos restaurant at Royal Palm Plaza. The business was destroyed on the anniversary of a fire which gutted its Ariapita Avenue outlet.
Apart from El Pecos, other businesses located on the ground floor, Hurry Curry, Burger King and Gourmet Foods, were also gutted.
Of the 11 people who were injured and warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital following the explosion, four were described as critical by doctors.
The explosion, which occurred around 10.30 am, was so powerful that shards of glass were pitched as far as the nearby Super Pharm compound. Parked cars and customers in the carpark were also hit by flying glass.
Kervin Edwards, an employee at Hurry Curry, said while working the wall came crashing down.
“Same time I saw a lady come running towards me and I just ‘raff’ her hand and pull her in the toilet. I took a minute before I ‘chook’ my head out and nobody was inside the place except myself and the lady,” Edwards told the T&T Guardian.
“I took my time to come out and by the time we reach the kitchen it was black smoke. The lady was in a shock, so she fell and hurt her foot.
“When I came out everybody was bleeding. The gas man who was fulling gas... the whole face start to peel. El Pecos cook face start to peel as well because she was right in front the fire. A next lady she foot split... it wasn’t nice.”
Matthew Arneaud, who sells chive on the pavement in front of Adam’s Bagels, said even from several feet away a big flash was seen.
“I was standing looking down and all of a sudden you just see a big flash and hear a big boom. When I come down the road I meet them pulling out people from El Pecos and Burger King. All the cars in front mash up."
One worker said there was the theory the explosion was caused by a punctured gas line.
“The gas was being changed and it is suspected the line had a hole in it... it is not certain how it got the hole but as it was as being dragged on the ground the metal part of it start to spark and that was how the fire start,” the worker said.
El Pecos owner Richard Camacho, who was visibly shaken, said his first priority was dealing with his eight injured workers.
“Everybody is okay but a lot of them are in shock. Some of them got minor injuries and one of my workers got badly burnt.
“I don’t want to say anything that I really shouldn’t but obviously there was an error there so we are really trying to look after the injured now and once we get to the bottom of this we will try to rebuild. Some customers and some people in the carpark got damaged,” Camacho said.
He said before the explosion there was a large white cloud and strong fumes.
On his thoughts about the incident, especially since exactly one year ago he lost the Ariapita Avenue branch in a fire, Camacho said the explosion was “unfortunate.” Asked whether he believed the two incidents would tarnish the El Pecos’ name, Camacho said he hoped not, adding that it was not his fault.
Lucky Escape
Michelle Wilkinson had just bought breakfast and was sitting in her car parked directly in front of El Pecos when the area was rocked by an explosion.
As she was trying to start the car she heard the loud explosion. Her car’s front and back windscreens then shattered.
“My car couldn’t start and I was just trying it out then the glass just came flying at me from all over. Glass from the building also flew at my car and some very big pieces got stuck in my back bumper.
“I thought it was somebody bombing up the place. I got splinters to my head and pieces of glass in my feet,” Wilkinson said.
She said she came out the car and thought twice about abandoning it.
But the efforts of Good Samaritan John “Yardy” James helped save Wilkinson’s car.
“When I came over I see the lady breathing fast. I took the key from her and the car would not start and she mother bring a battery and I start it and move it,” James said.
Quick thinking driver
The driver from the North Plant LPG Inc who was delivering fuel at the time of yesterday’s explosion, Neville Rampersad, thanked God for being alive.
“When I hear the explosions at the back I run quick inside to see what I can do but there was nothing I could have done but to run back by the truck and isolate every valve on the truck and shift the truck and try to get the truck away from the fire.”
He said when he went inside he saw the loader bleeding.
“He went the other way and I ran back out to the truck to switch off everything and get the truck out of site," Rampersad said.
Contacted yesterday, a spokesman at the gas company said no one was available for comment as all managers were locked in a meeting.
It took about an hour for firefighters to bring the blaze under control but even then, clouds of thick, black smoke were still seen coming from the business places.
Chief Fire Officer Nayar Rampersad, who spoke to the media, said about seven fire appliances from Port-of-Spain, Belmont and Diego Martin were used and there were 30 firefighters on the ground.