This video grab obtained by AFPTV from ASONGA TV shows an aerial view of destroyed houses after accidental blasts at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp in Equatorial Guinea’s economic hub Bata on March 7. (Photo: ASONGA TV/AFP)
Mar 30 2021
The scene after the first explosion was ‘worse than a horror movie’
Catholic nuns continue to offer medical help to the victims of deadly blasts in Equatorial Guinea that killed 105 and injured more than 600.
Three weeks after the explosions in the coastal Bata city, Catholic nuns are busy helping the injured, Vatican News said on March 26, quoting the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne.
A blast around midday on March 7 created scenes “worse than a horror movie,” she said.
“We heard a loud noise as if the house was shaking. A few minutes later, another noise was heard, which caused the destruction of the hotel’s doors and windows, located in front of our house,” the nun said.
She said that soon after they heard the blasts they received news about an explosion at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp, some six kilometres from their residence.
The nun’s congregation is active in the country’s financial capital of Bata, which is also the most populous city in the former Spanish colony.
Within two hours of the blasts, “without knowing what was going on, we moved to the general hospital. We had been informed that this is where the wounded were being taken,” the nun said.
“We loaded our car with medical supplies and offered our full support. In all this difficult situation, we have seen the rapid response of support and solidarity from the people.”
She said some 200 health workers rushed to this hospital volunteering to help. They included nurses, doctors and medical students. “All came face to face with something they did not understand.”
Her religious congregation is taking care of the injured.
Church officials have also opened several parishes and church-run schools to shelter those rendered homeless.
Specialized agencies with expertise in ammunition safety have been deployed under the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa in Bata. – UCANews
