See also:
» 08.10.2009 - Environmentalists condemn Mozambique's planned damming of Zambezi
» 05.09.2008 - Scores die in Mozambican veld fires
» 12.04.2007 - Inquiry reveals Mozambican blast causes
» 26.03.2007 - Govt negligence blamed for Mozambique blast
» 23.03.2007 - Mozambique President sets up inquiry commission
» 23.02.2007 - Mozambique plans more dams on the Zambezi
» 22.02.2007 - Cyclone Favio landfall leaves coastal town in ruins
» 28.02.2006 - Mozambique asks for aid after earthquake











China wholesale online through DHgate.com


Houlihan's coupons


Finn autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden på Verdensmat.no:
Gazpacho Børek Kartoffelsalat Taboulé Gulasj Albóndigas Cevapi Rougaille Japrak sarma Zwiebelbrot Klopse Giouvetsi Paella Pljeskavica Pica pau Pulpo a la gallega Flammkuchen Langosj Tapenade Chatsjapuri Pasulj Lassi Kartoffelpuffer Tortilla Raznjici Knödel Lentejas Bœuf bourguignon Korianderchutney Brenneslesuppe Proia Sæbsi kavurma Sardinske calamares


Autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden finner du på Verdensmat.no:
Réunion Portugal Aserbajdsjan Serbia Tyskland Seychellene Bosnia Spania Libanon Belgia India Kroatia Hellas Italia Ungarn Komorene Georgia Mauritius Østerrike Romania Frankrike


Mozambique
Society

Weapons depot explosion kills 76 and injures hundreds more

afrol News / IRIN, 23 March - A series of explosions at a military weapons depot in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, late on Thursday afternoon showered rockets and other ballistic debris into densely populated poor neighbourhoods, killing at least 76 people, wounding hundreds more, and sending thousands of residents fleeing from their homes.

The blasts began at about 4 p.m. and grew in intensity for six hours, sending concussive gusts, which were felt 10km away in downtown Maputo, and shockwaves that shattered windows in buildings as far as 25km away. It is believed that hundreds of tonnes of decaying munitions went up in flames, sending columns of fire hundreds of feet into the air.

The total amount of weaponry and explosives stored in the country's largest depot is not known, but it is estimated to contain thousands of tonnes of weaponry and explosives.

So far 76 people have been confirmed dead, according to fatalities registered at the Central Hospital. Antonio Assis, the hospital's emergency room director, told IRIN early on Friday morning that several dozen more victims were in critical condition. "The great majority of these needed amputations," he said. It was unclear how many dead were registered at other hospitals and health posts, or how many people were still unaccounted for.

About a kilometre from the munitions dump, in the poor neighbourhood of Malhazine, children and their parents had huddled against a graveyard wall for protection as rockets spun overhead and tracer bullets streaked through billowing black smoke. On Friday, IRIN visited Magoanine, about one kilometre from the weapons dump, and saw unexploded rockets, each nearly a meter in length, littering the neighbourhood.

In one Magoanine street of only 62 houses, unexploded rockets had crashed through the walls or come to rest in the yards of 10 of them, a local official told IRIN. At least one home had been completely destroyed. No residents in the street were hurt, the official said, but a family of 13 people was killed in a nearby area when an explosion destroyed the home they were sheltering in.

Carlos Bembele rushed to his Magoanine home as soon as he heard the explosions. He was huddling with his family in their yard when a rocket dropped through the kitchen roof. He slept in his house last night, a few meters from the explosive, which was lodged in the floor beside the refrigerator. "I didn't have anywhere else to go," he said.

Officials suspect the hot weather conditions prevailing in the capital were the catalyst for the explosions. The same cause was blamed on a smaller explosion at the munitions depot in January this year, which seriously injured three people.

"Once again, we find ourselves grieving such an occurrence, and we hope to re-establish the peace as soon as possible," President Armando Guebuza said in a televised address last night. He was referring to past explosions at national armouries both here and in Beira over the past twenty years.

In 2003 an electrical storm set off an explosion at the Beira arms depot, killing three people and destroying 130 houses. Five more people were killed at the site in December 2006, when they caused an explosion while scavenging for scrap metal. In 1985 an explosion, again at the Malhazine in Maputo, killed 13 and injured 100.

Dan Bridges, the country director of HALO Trust, a UK-based nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that specialises in removing the debris of war, said even if the scattered rockets and other debris lacked explosive fuses, they could be exploded in other ways. Technical expertise would be needed to clear the unexploded ordnance, some of which would probably have to be destroyed on site. HALO is in talks with the military about providing assistance.

The humanitarian community and the government have long recognised the dangers posed by the 17 national armouries of the armed forces, which are poorly maintained and secured, and where tonnes of un-inventoried munitions are decaying. Mozambican officials have frequently acknowledged to the humanitarian community that they would like to dispose of the unwanted munitions, but the government has yet to develop a plan to deal with the problem.

However, the military has been cautious about allowing officials, other than its own personnel, onto its sites. A senior military official said the fire at the depot was extinguished on Friday morning.

The army has yet to investigate the munitions dispersed into neighbouring communities. There were fifty Mozambican military explosives experts in the army's main Maputo barracks, an official said, but no trucks could be found to transport them to the affected neighbourhoods.


- Create an e-mail alert for Mozambique news
- Create an e-mail alert for Society news


 
    Printable version


On the Afrol News front page now

Rwanda
Rwanda succeeds including citizens in formal financial sector

afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.

Famine warning: "South Sudan is imploding"

afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
Guinea
Panic in West Africa after Ebola outbreak in Guinea

afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia tightens its already strict anti-gay laws

afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia plans Africa's biggest dam

afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.



front page | news | countries | archive | currencies | news alerts login | about afrol News | contact | advertise | español 

©  afrol News. Reproducing or buying afrol News' articles.

   You can contact us at mail@afrol.com