Several explosions at a military camp in Equatorial Guinea Sunday killed at least 20 people and injured hundreds more, ABC News reported.
Some residents searched through the rubble for survivors while others helped take the wounded to hospitals, ABC reported.
Footage shows burning buildings and thick black smoke around the Nkoa Ntoma camp in Bata. Some buildings were flattened and many houses were raised to the ground after “shockwaves” spread through the town, The Bangkok Post reported.
BREAKING: Massive explosion in Bata, Equatorial Guinea; health ministry says “hundreds” injured pic.twitter.com/1oUWgePRh1
— BNO News (@BNONews) March 7, 2021
“The city of Bata has been the victim of an accident caused by the negligence of the unit in charge of storing explosives, dynamite and ammunition at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp,” President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said in a statement, according to The Bangkok Post. (RELATED: REPORT: At Least 22 Dead, 50 Wounded After Unknown Explosion At Yemen Airport)
The defense ministry said in a statement that a fire near an arsenal in the barracks caused ammunition to explode, the Associated Press reported. The president said the fire started by local farmers had burned out of control and reached explosives that had been improperly stored, according to The Bangkok Post.
“The impact of the explosion caused damage in almost all the houses and buildings in Bata,” said the president, according to the AP.
The defense ministry announced that 20 people had been killed and 600 injured. The president requested international help, The Bangkok Post reported.