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Television images of the explosions.
© APA (AFP / TVGE)
A series of four explosions rocked the city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa on Sunday, killing at least 30 people. About 600 more people were injured, the Defense Ministry announced. According to the authorities, several weapons and ammunition depots exploded at a military base. The head of state, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, spoke of “an accident due to negligence.”
The explosions so devastated the surrounding neighborhoods that it seemed like a war. Numerous window panes were smashed and pieces of concrete were scattered around the streets within a hundred meters, according to state television channel TVGE.
Neighbors ran through the streets in panic. Civilians, emergency services and members of the security forces tried to remove bodies from the ruins and help the wounded. Three children, ages three and four, were saved alive and taken to the hospital.
According to TVGE, there was chaos in the Bata hospital in view of the many injured. Some of the wounded were stretched out on the ground and were given temporary care there. A Twitter message from the Health Ministry said that many residents of the surrounding neighborhoods were still under the rubble of their homes. TVGE repeatedly showed footage of firefighters and helpers releasing people from the rubble.
The explosions occurred at the Nkoa Ntoma military base, which houses special forces. President Obiang Nguema spoke on state television that night of “an accident caused by the negligence of the unit in charge of guarding explosives, dynamite and ammunition.” The explosions were caused by smoking ash in nearby fields. The Defense Department said the large-caliber munitions explosions set off shock waves that destroyed numerous homes.
Telephone connections between Bata, the country’s largest city, and the capital, Malabo, on the coastal island of Bioko, partially collapsed. Obiang Nguema ordered an investigation into the cause of the explosions. At the same time, he sent an appeal for help to the international community. Obiang’s son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is also vice president and responsible for defense policy, went to the scene of the accident accompanied by his Israeli bodyguards.
Equatorial Guinea, located in the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of Africa and south of Cameroon, is one of the most isolated states in Africa. The 78-year-old head of state, Obiang Nguema, has been in power there for almost 42 years. The opposition and international organizations repeatedly accuse him of human rights violations. According to government information, a coup was foiled in 2017; Two years later, 130 people were sentenced to life imprisonment, some of them for life.
Bata is the largest city in the country rich in oil and gas, but where the vast majority of the population lives in poverty. About 800,000 of the 1.4 million residents live in Bata.
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