A massive explosion under the Bridge of the Americas has killed one person and injured two, temporarily closing the vital crossing over the Panama Canal.
Smoke and flames engulfed part of the bridge, footage on social media showed, after a fuel tanker truck exploded in the area of La Boca, under the 5,400ft-long bridge. Cars and buses sped up in order to move past the explosion.
More than 75 firefighting units and 45 vehicles were deployed to fight the blaze, according to Panama's fire brigade service.
One worker, presumed to be operating near the truck, died in the fire firefighter chief Victor Alvarez said in a press conference. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, he added.
“The investigations are just beginning,” he said. “It would be premature and irresponsible on our part to speculate about the causes of this incident at this time."
A logistics corridor was reopened at 4am GMT-5 after the bridge was temporarily closed by the Panama Canal Authority in coordination with the Transit and Land Transportation Authority.
A statement from the authority read: “In response to the emergency that caused the temporary closure of the Bridge of the Americas, the Panama Canal Authority informs that, in coordination with the ATTT (Transit and Land Transportation Authority), the Logistics Corridor between the Brujas Highway and the Centennial Bridge will be reopened on April 7 at 4:00 a.m. to facilitate the mobility of residents of Veracruz and Panama Pacifico.
“Panama Canal operations continue as normal. We recognize the work of the Panama Fire Department and other institutions that responded to the emergency.
“The Panama Canal Authority expresses its solidarity with those affected.”
The Bridge of Americas spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, a vital waterway for commodities connecting the Panama Sea with the Pacific Ocean.
Amid a fuel crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in Iran, the Panama Canal’s deputy administrator, Ilya Espino de Marotta, told CNN in March that the waterway had received a “slight increase” in vessel transits.
“The latest thing we’ve seen is an increase — a slight increase in the number of transits,” a statement from the administrator, seen by CNN, read. “Let’s remember that now, with higher fuel prices, the Panama Canal definitely becomes a more attractive route because it’s shorter.”
The Panama Canal, roughly 50 miles long, saw 2.3 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum liquids transit per day in the first half of 2025 - an increase from the two million a day the year prior, according to the U.S Energy Information Administration.
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