At least 20 dead, 600 wounded in Equatorial Guinea blasts
Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso): A series of explosions at a military barracks in Equatorial Guinea killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 600 others on Sunday, authorities said.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said the explosion at 4 pm local time was due to the negligent handling of dynamite in the military barracks located in the neighbourhood of Mondong Nkuantoma in Bata.
The impact of the explosion caused damage in almost all the houses and buildings in Bata," the president said in a statement, which was in Spanish.
The defence ministry released a statement late Sunday saying that a fire at a weapons depot in the barracks caused the explosion of high-calibre ammunition. It said the provisional toll was 20 dead and 600 injured, adding that the cause of the explosions will be fully investigated.
The country's president said the fire may have been due residents burning the fields surrounding the barracks.
State television showed a huge plume of smoke rising above the explosion site as crowds fled, with many people crying out we don't know what happened, but it is all destroyed.
Images on local media seen by The Associated Press show people screaming and crying running through the streets amid debris and smoke. Roofs of houses were ripped off and wounded people were being carried into a hospital.
Equatorial Guinea, an African country of 1.3 million people located south of Cameroon, was a colony of Spain until it gained its independence in 1968. Bata has roughly 175,000 inhabitants.
Earlier, the Health Ministry had tweeted that 17 were killed and the president's statement mentioned 15 dead.
The Health Ministry made a call for blood donors and volunteer health workers to go to the Regional Hospital de Bata, one of three hospitals treating the wounded.
The ministry said its health workers were treating the injured at the site of the tragedy and in medical facilities, but feared people were still missing under the rubble.
The blasts were a shock for the oil rich Central African nation. Foreign Minister Sime n Oyono Esono Angue met with foreign ambassadors and asked for aid.
It is important for us to ask our brother countries for their assistance in this lamentable situation since we have a health emergency (due to COVID-19) and the tragedy in Bata, he said.
A doctor calling into TVGE, who went by his first name, Florentino, said the situation was a moment of crisis and that the hospitals were overcrowded. He said a sports center set up for COVID-19 patients would be used to receive minor cases.
Radio station, Radio Macuto, said on Twitter that people were being evacuated within four kilometers of the city because the fumes might be harmful.
Following the blast, the Spanish Embassy in Equatorial Guinea recommended on Twitter that Spanish nationals stay in their homes."
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Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas assumes charge as IAF AOC-in-C, training command
Bengaluru (PTI): Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, Indian Air Force on Thursday.
An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Shrinivas was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 13 June 1987, an official statement said.
Air Marshal Shrinivas is a ‘Category A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,200 hours of flying experience on MiG-21, Iskra, Kiran, PC-7 Mk II, HPT-32 and Microlite amongst other aircraft.
The AOC-in-C is also qualified as a second pilot on Chetak / Cheetah helicopter and a categorised Operations Officer on the Pechora missile system.
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The Air Marshal has held a number of command appointments in his career.
He has been the Commandant of the Air Force Academy, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of a frontline fighter base on the Western border, and a premier flying training base, AOC Advance HQ Western Air Command (Jaipur), Commanding Officer of the prestigious Flying Instructors’ School, Commandant of the Institute of Aerospace Safety and CO of Basic Flying Training School.
His staff and other appointments include Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officers), Chief Instructor (Flying) at Air Force Academy, Ops Staff at HQ Central Air Command and Directing Staff at College of Air Warfare. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ SWAC.
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Air Marshal Shrinivas is a graduate of National Defence College, College of Defence Management and Defence Services Staff College. His educational qualifications include Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies, Master of Management Studies and Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies.
In recognition of his meritorious services, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2017 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024 by the President of India.
After assumption of his new appointment, the Air Marshal paid homage to bravehearts by laying a wreath at the Training Command War Memorial.
