Three die after supermarket set on fire, flights out of Santiago delayed due to Chile riots

Record ID: 1437667

  • Title: Three die after supermarket set on fire, flights out of Santiago delayed due to Chile riots
  • Date: 20th October 2019
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF AIRPORT VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WHO HAVE BEEN STRANDED WAITING STRANDED PASSENGERS SLEEPING AT AIRPORT VARIOUS OF DISPLAY MONITORS ANNOUNCING FLIGHT CANCELATIONS PASSENGERS ARGUING WITH AIRLINE WORKERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED STRANDED PASSENGER SAYING: "It's terrible, truthfully. I am very tired. I want to get back home, I haven't slept -- here on the floor, and very cold." STRANDED PASSENGER SLEEPING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) STRANDED PASSENGER JANETTE CASTILLO SAYING: "There are people here who are very sick. I went to the bathroom and a little girl had fainted, there are grandmothers who do not have water, they do not have anything. There aren't any seats, there's nothing." VARIOUS OF PLANES PARKED AT THEIR GATES
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2019 15:33
  • Keywords: Chile protests looting deaths price hike metro
  • Location: SANTIAGO AND ANTOFAGASTA AND RANCAGUA, CHILE
  • City: SANTIAGO AND ANTOFAGASTA AND RANCAGUA, CHILE
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA002B1WJ8ZR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: At least three people died after a supermarket in the Chilean capital Santiago was set alight by demonstrators, while many flights into the city's airport were suspended as crew were unable to get to work, the city's governor said on Sunday (October 20).
    Santiago and other Chilean cities have been engulfed by several days of rioting as protests over an increase in public transport costs prompted President Sebastian Pinera to declare a state of emergency.
    Santiago governor Karla Rubilar confirmed that three people died in a supermarket in the capital that was set on fire by demonstrators on Saturday.
    "We regret to inform that according to preliminary information from Chilean police two people were found fatally burned in San Bernardo and a seriously injured person was moved to hospital where they died," she said in a tweet on Sunday. She did not name the supermarket.
    Flights operated by Chile's biggest airlines LATAM and another, Sky Airline, were suspended or delayed on Sunday morning after a curfew, a public transport shutdown and continued rioting left flight crews struggling to get to work, Rubilar said.
    Crowds of affected passengers were left stranded at the airport as a result.
    LATAM Chile tweeted that due to the public order situation its flights into and out of Santiago were being affected. "We will continue to adjust our itineraries of flights into and out of Santiago on October 20 and 21," the tweet said, adding that passengers should check their flights before going to the airport.
    Walmart Chile confirmed that it would close its stores across the country after 60 were damaged in the unrest in Santiago and its surroundings, Valparaíso, Antofagasta, Calama, Concepción, San Antonio and Temuco.
    (Production: Jorge Vega)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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