“When the No. 16 well of the Crude Oil Corporation’s field blew its top, the only available explosive to halt the gushing blast of flame and smoke was nitroglycerine – and that was 300 miles away.
This was the reason for the hastily written sign in Las Piedras – “DRIVERS WANTED, DANGEROUS WORK. HIGH PAY”.
Somebody had to drive a lorry all the way to that oil field, over rough mountain roads spattered with boulders and potholes, through a whole night, under a burning tropical sun. the lorry had to travel that 300 miles with no special safety devices, with hastily adapted tanks.. with half a ton of explosives on its back that could reduce the men, the lorry and half the road to dust at the slightest jolt or rise in temperature …”