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 at Nkoantoma Military Base, Bata on Sunday, The explosion started with a fire according to the defence ministry.
Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, stated that the health ministry put the death toll at ninety eight( 98), a far cry from the initial figures of thirty-one (31) initially announced,
According to statistics given by the Health Ministry, 299 remained hospitalized.
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.
TNNO learnt that the Vice President visited a hospital where victims were being treated on Monday.
The blasts comes as Equatorial Guinea, an oil producer, is suffering a double economic shock because of the coronavirus pandemic and a drop in the price of crude oil, which provides around three-fourths of state revenue.
The majority of the population of 1.4 million live in poverty. The Government has called for international support to help in the search and rescue effort and also in efforts to rebuild.
Following the devastating explosions in Bata yesterday, A former Spanish Colony being run by the oldest serving African President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, since 1979, The Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya wrote on Twitter that sequel to the flare, Spain will proceed with the immediate dispatch of a shipment of humanitarian aid to Equatorial Guinea.