LIMA — The death toll in the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima rose to 14 following the death of a woman hospitalized with severe burns, Peru's Deputy Health Minister Victor Bocangel said on Saturday.

Bocangel, who met with a group of patients injured by the blast, told reporters that the latest victim was 39 years old.

The dead also included five children and a 40-year-old man from Venezuela, the ministry said earlier.

Nearly 50 people were injured, many seriously, when a tanker truck carrying 10,000 liters of liquefied gas exploded early Thursday, igniting a major fire that destroyed several houses and vehicles in the capital's Villa El Salvador district.

Investigators believe the explosion was caused when a fuel hose became detached as the tanker truck passed over a speed bump as it approached an intersection.

The driver, initially reported to have died in the crash, in fact survived. — AFP