At least 98 dead and 615 wounded: the death toll is rising after the explosion Sunday, March 7 of an ammunition depot in Bata, the economic capital. The Equatorial Guinean authorities have appealed for foreign aid.
More than 100 dead, this is the new count given by the Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in France. And it is far from being final. The explosion of the ammunition depot in Nkoantoma, the military district of Bata, has caused damage within a radius of 10 kilometers. Many buildings in the economic capital were blown up by the blast, including churches, which were very busy on Sunday.
The whole city is affected, said a civil society representative whose family lives in Bata. Children without parents, parents looking for their children, homeless people. The clinic closest to the military camp saw many wounded arrive, their bodies riddled with shards of glass.
In response, the Equatorial Guinean government has mobilized all the country’s doctors and is urging the population to donate blood. But the authorities in Malabo need foreign help, acknowledges the Equatorial Guinean ambassador to France. He calls for help from neighboring countries: Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Gabon. But also to the solidarity of Europe. Spain should send humanitarian aid.