About 100 people have been confirmed dead after explosions at a military base in the Central African country over the weekend, the country’s health ministry said on Tuesday.
The blasts in the port city of Bata on Sunday killed 98 people and injured 615 more, according to the latest government count.
The fire service and other agencies have pulled more than 60 people from the rubble at the site of the blast, authorities said.
About half of the injured have been discharged from hospital while the rest are still in treatment.
Resident Carmen Alebeso told CNN she was in her car when the first blast occurred around 2 p.m., Sunday.
“It was a very loud 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 buildings in the area were completely destroyed and on Monday bodies were still removed from the rubble of the area, he added.
Alebeso added that medical help was not available to those who needed it most.
“We have three main hospitals and they all collapsed. There were so many people injured, it was terrible. People were crying trying to get in to get some treatment. It was a terrifying situation,” he said.
“We are asking for the contribution of blood donors,” the health ministry says he said Monday on Twitter, calling on volunteer health personnel to go to Bata Regional Hospital.
President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo blamed the military for mishandling dynamite and other explosive devices in his charge, which he said sparked the blasts after people suspected of being farmers set fire to a field on the edge of the military base.
“Bata was the location of an accident caused by the negligence and negligence of a unit in charge of the care and protection of dynamite and explosives depots next to the ammunition of the Nkoantoma military base, which was set on fire by the burning of neighboring nearby lands, causing an explosion in the dynamite and explosives warehouse and subsequently ammunition “ the president said in a statement Sunday.
Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, told CNN that the government must answer questions about why deadly explosives were kept in the military camp.
“In other countries, these things are kept in remote places like deserts. Why is dynamite kept in the center of the largest city in the country and in the barracks where the army and its family live? We need proper research on what it has happened, ”he said.
President Mbasogo, 78, appealed 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 were said to be caring for the victims and transporting the seriously injured to hospitals.
Mbasogo called on the international community to help his country in repairing public and private infrastructure damaged during the blast, which he said will “involve significant economic resources.”
The incident occurred when Equatorial Guinea emerged from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with just over 850,000 residents. Bata is one of the two cities in the country with more than 30,000 inhabitants, the other is the capital of the island, Malabo.
Mbasogo, one of Africa’s oldest 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.
In 2019, a collection of $ 13 million worth of supercar supercars was seized from him and auctioned off in Switzerland following an investigation into money laundering.