More than 400 were injured and many missing under the rubble, according to the ministry after Sunday’s huge blasts.
Resident Carmen Alebeso said the scenes resembled the detonation of an atomic bomb. Alebeso told CNN he was in his car when the first explosion 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 said on Twitter, calling on volunteer health personnel to go to Bata Regional Hospital.
Health workers and firefighters were said to be caring for the victims and transporting the seriously injured to hospitals.
In a statement read to the local press on Sunday afternoon, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo blamed the country’s military for mishandling the dynamite and other explosive devices in his charge, which he said caused the explosions afterwards. that people suspected of being farmers set fire to a field bordering 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 nearby nearby lands, causing an explosion in the dynamite and explosives warehouse and subsequently ammunition, ”the statement said.
President Mbasogo called on the international community to help his country in repairing public and private infrastructure damaged in the blast, which he said would “involve significant economic resources”.
The president said the tragic incident came at a time when Equatorial Guinea is still shrinking by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement last Sunday, the Spanish embassy asked its citizens in Equatorial Guinea to “stay home.”
The embassy did not provide further details on the advice on the stay at home. However, it issued emergency numbers for all Spanish nationals in the country.
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.