Nearly 100 people died after the detonation at a military base in the Central African country over the weekend, the health ministry said Tuesday.
According to the government’s latest count, the blasts in the port city of Bata on Sunday killed 98 people and injured a further 615.
More than 60 people have been removed from the rubble at the site of the explosion by firefighters and other agencies, authorities said.
About half of the injured have been released from hospital, while the rest are still under treatment.
Resident Carmen Alebeso told CNN she was in her car when the first explosion occurred around 2 p.m. local time on Sunday.
“It was a huge noise and everyone got out of their cars and we were all in shock. 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 had been completely destroyed and bodies were still being recovered from the rubble in the area on Monday, she added.
Alebeso added that medical attention was not reaching those who needed it the most.
“We have three big hospitals and they all collapsed. So many people were injured, it was terrible. People were crying to come in to get treatment. It was a terrifying situation,” she said.
“We ask for the contribution of blood donors,” says the Ministry of Health said Monday on Twitter, calling on voluntary health workers to go to Bata Regional Hospital.
President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo accused the military of mishandling dynamite and other explosives held under his wing that he believed led to the detonations after individuals suspected of being farmers lit a fire in a bordered field at the military base.
“Bata was the site of an accident caused by the negligence and carelessness of a unit charged with the care and protection of the dynamite and explosives stores next to the ammunition at the Nkoantoma military base, which caught fire by burning nearby land by neighbors, which caused an explosion in the storage of dynamite and explosives and then the ammunition, “the the president said in a statement Sunday.
Tutu Alicante, a US-based human rights lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, told CNN that the government should answer questions about why deadly explosives were kept in the military camp.
“In other countries these things are kept in remote places like deserts. Why is dynamite kept in the middle of the largest city in the country and in the barracks where the military and their families live? We need a thorough investigation into what happened. , ‘he said.
President Mbasogo, 78, called for calm, saying he was calling for an emergency meeting to assess the situation and get help for those who need it.
It said health workers and the fire service provided care to victims and transferred people with serious injuries to hospitals.
Mbasogo appealed to the international community to help his country restore the public and private infrastructure damaged by the explosion – which he says entails “significant economic resources”.
The incident took place as Equatorial Guinea faced the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of just over 850,000. Bata is one of the two cities in the country with more than 30,000 inhabitants, the other being the capital of the island of Malabo.
Mbasogo, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, has ruled the small Central African country for 42 years. His son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is the vice president and known for his extravagance.
A collection of ultra-expensive supercars worth $ 13 million was seized from him in 2019 and put up for auction in Switzerland following an investigation into money laundering.