Military Depot Explosion in Mozambique
On Thursday March 22, 2007 a series of explosions from bombs, mines and ammunition at an arms depots rocked the capital of Maputo, Mozambique. The explosion left at least 100 dead and hundreds of people injured. Popular opinion is accusing the government of negligence and calling for the resignation of the Minister of Defense.
On Thursday March 22, 2007 a series of explosions from bombs, mines and ammunition at an arms depots rocked the capital of Maputo, Mozambique. The explosion left at least 100 dead and hundreds of people injured. Popular opinion is accusing the government of negligence and calling for the resignation of the Minister of Defense.
According to news agencies, the explosion was the second after an earlier one in January, which caused injuries to a few people prompting the authorities to pledge to move the arsenal to a safer, more isolated place. That had not been done before this second explosion.
The vast arsenal reportedly stacked with thousands of tons of artillery, ammunition and missiles with poor air conditioning was built in the 1980s by Soviet engineers during the civil war (1975-1992), in what was then an isolated part of the country.
One of our partners in Maputo sent this first hand report on the situation.
By now I think you have heard about the explosion or saw the clouds of smoke in the shape of a tree on your TV screens. On Thursday afternoon around 2:30 pm, an explosion occurred at the national military depot which lasted until 9:00 pm or for 6 hours!! Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique was in a panic. Around 5 pm, the heavy weapons at the depot started to explode. When the first rocket flew over us, it shook our house. The blast deafened our ears and shattered the windows in our home and other homes in my neighborhood. Some buildings came down. Our baby screamed intensely from fright. Everyone was in a panic running from one side to the other. As more rockets flew overhead, the panic increased.
We thank God that for us it was just panic as no rocket landed inside our home. Our relatives were not injured. My cousin lost his children, but found them several days later. A rocket landed in my sister’s home but fortunately she had already run away from it.
The news was not so good with many other families. A rocket landed on the roof of one house which had all 13 family members inside. They all perished. There are other cases of entire families being killed. There were instances of people cut into pieces and bodies without heads being found. Body parts were found everywhere.
By the end of last week, over 100 bodies were recovered and over 400 were in hospital, most with serious injuries or missing body parts. The number of houses totally destroyed has not been counted yet. The job of recovering bodies and removing explosive devices continues. It is estimated that this will take three days.
In the city the majority of residences, offices, shops, banks, and shopping centres have been damaged in some way. And, up to Sunday March 25th there were sporadic explosions and fire at the military depot.
People are without food, shelter, etc. Please pray for them, children are among the dead and injured or have now become orphans.
Rev. Lucas Amosse
Maputo – Mozambique