Doha sent urgent help after blasts left over 100 dead and hundreds more wounded in Central Africa’s Equatorial Guinea.
Qatar deployed an Amiri Air Force aircraft to send urgent medical aid to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in an effort to help those affected by a deadly explosion in the city of Bata.
The move, a direct order from Amir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, provided a field hospital equipped with medical supplies, as well as an integrated logistical and medical team to help local authorities respond to the tragedy.
The massive explosion, which struck last week, killed at least 105 people and left over 600 people injured, according to reports.
The blast shook a military base in Equatorial Guinea’s largest city of Bata and was blamed on negligence of a military unit “in charge of storing explosives, dynamite and ammunition at the Nkoa Ntoma military camp,” according to reports.
However, the government also pointed fingers at fires lit by farmers living near the military base, according to CNN.
The blast and ensuing blaze lasted for hours.
Authorities have since continued the search for bodies as hundreds of families mourn the death of their loved ones. Calls for donations and basic goods have been broadcasted in a bid to gather urgent supplies.
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Some victims were pulled from piles of rubble while others were carried away wrapped in bedsheets. The deadly blast destroyed iron roofs and houses across the area.
On Wednesday, a five-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble of a house in the military camp, Equato-Guinean media AhoraEG said.
Human rights activist, Alfredo Okenve said officials “have been forced to turn to refrigerated containers to store bodies,” according to CNN.
A search and rescue team from Qatar’s Lekhwiya force is currently on the ground to assist in local police and fire departments in the ongoing search for survivors.
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