Nearly a hundred people have been confirmed dead after the explosions on a military base in the country in the Central African country, the country’s health ministry said on Tuesday.
According to the latest government statement, 98 people were killed and 615 injured in the blasts in the port city of Bata on Sunday.
More than 60 people were rescued from the rubble at the site of the blast by firefighters and other agencies, authorities said.
About half of the wounded were discharged from the hospital while the rest are still being treated.
Resident Carmen Alebeso told CNN she was in her car when the first explosion occurred Sunday around 2 p.m. local time.
“It was a very big noise and everyone got out of their cars and we were all shocked. We saw the typical image of an atomic bomb in front of us. It was a confusing and desperate situation, people were screaming and crying,” she said.
All the buildings in the area were completely destroyed, and bodies are still being removed from the rubble on Monday, she added.
Alebeso added that those who need it most cannot get medical help.
“We have three main hospitals and they all collapsed. So many people were injured. It was horrible. People were crying in trying to get treatment. It was a scary situation,” she said.
“We ask for the contribution of blood donors,” the health ministry said Said Monday on Twitter, and called on volunteer health personnel to go to Bata Regional Hospital.
President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has blamed the military for the mismanagement of dynamite and other explosive devices held in his care, which he said led to the explosions after individuals suspected to be farmers set fire to a field belonging to military base border, set on fire.
‘Bata was the site of an accident caused by the negligence and indifference of a unit charged with the care and protection of the dynamite and explosives stores next to the ammunition at the Nkoantoma military base, which caught fire from the burning of nearby land by neighbors, which caused an explosion in the dynamite and explosives store and then the ammunition, “the President Sunday said in a statement.
Tutu Alicante, a U.S. human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, told CNN the government must answer questions about why deadly explosives were detained in the military camp.
“In other countries these things are kept in remote places like deserts. Why is dynamite kept in the middle of the largest city in the country and in the barracks where the army and their family live? We need a proper investigation into what happened. , ‘he said.
President Mbasogo, 78, called for calm and said he was calling for an emergency meeting to assess the situation and get help for those in need.
Health workers and firefighters are said to provide care to victims and transport those with serious injuries to hospitals.
Mbasogo called on the international community to help his country repair public and private infrastructure damaged during the blast, which he said would ‘involve significant economic resources’.
The incident occurred when Equatorial Guinea had the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with just over 850,000 inhabitants. Bata is one of the country’s two cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants, the other being the capital Malabo.
Mbasogo, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, has ruled the small Central African nation for 42 years. His son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is the vice president and is known for his extravagance.
A collection of extremely expensive supercars worth $ 13 million was seized from him in 2019 and auctioned off in Switzerland after an investigation into money laundering.