Blasts Hit Military Barracks in Equatorial Guinea, With Many Feared Dead

A series of explosions rocked the city of Bata in the central African nation of Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, killing at least 20 people.

Reuters news agency quoted a local television station, TVGE, as saying that at least 20 people had been killed. A local news agency, TVGE, said hospitals reported up to 400 injuries.

The cause of the explosions, which were reported to have occurred near a military barracks in the west coast oil producing nation, was not immediately apparent.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Welfare declared a health emergency and said many were missing under the rubble. The video shows scenes of people digging for victims while thick smoke billowed across the rubble-strewn landscape. Others fled through the streets, some with suitcases and children in hand, under a dark sky.

The ministry said rescue workers took the injured to at least three hospitals in the city. Officials appealed for blood donations. Pickups were loaded with survivors, reported Reuters, and drove in front of a hospital – where some saw victims lying on the ground.

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