Haiti fire engulfs government building at port, up to 31 reported injured (AP)

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A government building in Haiti's biggest port in downtown Port-au-Prince caught fire Thursday and at least 31 people were injured in the blaze, an official said. There were no deaths.


Gue Verlien, a municipal co-ordinator for Haiti's Civil Protection Department, said those hurt were taken to two government-run hospitals and a medical centre run by the international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders. Some of the burns were severe.

A preliminary investigation showed the fire somehow ignited through a combustible combination of Clorox and fertilizer, Verlien said.

An Associated Press reporter Thursday afternoon saw about a dozen firefighters trying to beat back the blaze that had engulfed the two-story building that houses an agency overseeing Haiti's maritime industry at the national port, otherwise known as the Maritime and Navigation Service of Haiti. A market next door that sells used clothes also caught fire, and several trucks and motorcycles parked outside were burned.

Witness Abel Wilson says he heard a loud bang just before the fire broke out. He also says he saw medical workers treat at least two people for severe burn wounds before an ambulance took them to a hospital for further treatment.

"I was busy selling clothes and suddenly heard a boom," said Wilson, a 26-year-old merchant who works in the market that was damaged. "Next thing I know, I see the flames coming and I started running. I ran for my life."