The Los Alfaques disaster was a tanker explosion that occurred near a holiday campsite on Tuesday July 11, 1978 in Alcanar, Spain. The exploding truck, which was carrying 23-tons of a highly flammable Liquefied petroleum gas called propylene, killed 217 people and severely burned 200 more. Several people from the company that owned the vehicle were prosecuted for criminal negligence. It also resulted in new legislation in Spain making it only legal for vehicles carrying dangerous cargo to transit populated areas at night. Most of the victims were holiday makers from Germany and other European countries who were staying at the Los Alfaques seaside campground. The site, which is located at km 159 on the N-340 national road is 2 km south of the town of Sant Carles de la Ràpita. Background The truck, which consisted of a Pegaso tractor unit (registered M-7034-C) and a Fruehauf semi-trailer tanker (registered M-7981-R), was owned by Cisternas Reunidas S.A. It was being driven on the day of the explosion by 50-year-old Francisco Imbernón Villena. Events Loading and departure At 10.15am, Villena arrived at the state-owned Enpetrol refinery, located at La Pobla de Mafumet, 9 km north of Tarragona, to be loaded with liquefied propylene for another state-owned company, Paular (now Repsol), in Puertollano. At 12:05pm the fully laden truck left the refinery carrying of propylene which was more than 4 tons over the maximum design load for the tanker (which 19.35 tons). The tanker drivers were under instructions to take the smaller N-340 national road. instead of the A-7. In the late 1970s, the N-340 was still a narrow and winding coastal road that passed directly through several densely populated urban areas. The daily temperature for this part of Span in Summer was between and , this would mean the internal pressure within the tanker could have been between . Explosion By 2:35pm the truck was driving past the Los Alfaques campsite after travelling from the Enpetrol oil refinery at La Pobla de Mafumet. The time is known because Villena's watch - which was found still attached to his burned wrist - had stopped at 2:36pm. The tightly-packed campsite was crowded with nearly 1,000 holidaymakers, many Germans and other foreign tourists, in trailers and tents. Several different reports from surviving witnesses corroborate roughly the same story, that as the tanker passed the site it was leaking liquefied gas. However, some witnesses thought it