The death toll from a series of explosions in a military barracks in Equatorial Guinea has risen to 98, the health ministry said on Monday after volunteers searched the rubble for bodies.
At least 615 people were injured in the blasts on Sunday, which started with a fire at the Nkoantoma Military Base in the coastal city of Bata, according to the defence ministry.
Citing Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the health ministry put the death toll at 98, more than triple an earlier estimate of 31 killed.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the vice president’s father, has attributed the accident to negligence related to the handling of dynamite and said the explosions damaged almost all homes and buildings in Bata, a city of just over 250,000 people.
Equatorial Guinea’s health ministry posted on Twitter that it had prepared a mental health brigade made up of psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses to attend to the victims of the blast. The damages are not only physical but also mental,” the ministry said.
Images published by local media showed bodies wrapped in sheets and lined up on the side of a road, with children being pulled out from under piles of broken concrete and twisted metal. Television station TVGE showed the vice president visiting a hospital where victims were being treated on Monday.
In other news – Lasizwe has Identified his Next Rich Bae
We all know Lasizwe’s last relationship ended in tears after his ex-dribbled him and then made a mockery out of it.
After opening up about the heartbreak through social media and voicing his frustrations. It appears Baby Boy has learnt his lesson and has his sights set on a potential lover. He penned a lengthy thread on Twitter targeted to this special somebody. Learn more
Source: torontosun
