Huge explosions rock Equatorial Guinea's main city

Reuters

Around 300 people have been injured and an unknown number have died in a series of explosions in Equatorial Guinea, the country's health ministry says.

Images on social media showed a huge plume of smoke hanging over the main city of Bata.

State television showed people looking for survivors in the rubble and lifting up debris from collapsed buildings.

The cause of the explosions is unclear, but they came from an area near a military camp.

In a series of tweets, the health ministry asked for volunteer health workers to go to Bata Regional Hospital. It has also asked for blood donations due to the high number of casualties.

Hasta ahora se desconoce el número total de fallecidos pero se estima que hay alrededor de 300 heridos.
⚠️Pedimos la contribución de donantes de sangre.
⚠️El personal sanitario voluntario que quiera ayudar que se persone al Hospital Regional de Bata. pic.twitter.com/ZycOH7w9dJ

— Guinea Salud (@GuineaSalud) March 7, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

It listed three hospitals where the "seriously and very seriously injured" were being transferred.

Some local hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of patients admitted, local television station TVGE reported. It broadcast images of wounded people lying on the floor of a crowded hospital.

Video posted on social media of the aftermath of the explosions showed a chaotic scene of distressed people fleeing as smoke drifted over the area.

"We hear the explosion and we see the smoke, but we don't know what's going on," one local resident, Teodoro Nguema, told the AFP news agency.

In a tweet, France's ambassador Olivier Brochenin sent his condolences to the victims, describing the event as a "catastrophe".

Mi más sentido pésame por la catástrofe que acaba de producirse en Bata. Mis pensamientos están con todas las víctimas. Solidaridad. @AngueSimeon @MCooperacion pic.twitter.com/01dx7518i2

— Brochenin Olivier (@O_Brochenin) March 7, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

The Spanish embassy has said its country's citizens should remain at home and issued a series of emergency numbers.

Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish colony until independence in 1968.

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March 08, 2021 at 06:28AM

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56311677