|
A FIRE and explosions at Mozambique's national weapons depot near Maputo airport yesterday killed at least nine people, sent thousands streaming from their homes and shook buildings in the city center.
Among the nine confirmed fatalities was one child, said Health Ministry spokesman Edgar Cossa on Mozambique television. There was no final word on the number of injured, he said.
As night fell, the sound of sirens mixed with the thunder of blasts. A fleet of ambulances ferried casualties to the main hospital.
President Armando Guebuza appeared on national television to appeal for calm as firefighters and military officials tried to control the blaze.
"We lament what is happening," Guebuza said. He postponed a planned visit Friday to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki.
The area was sealed off by police as scenes of panic unfolded in the capital. Downtown streets were filled with people fleeing the area, with hundreds preparing to sleep rough because they were unable to return to their homes and others desperately searching for loved ones.
Joao Temba, a 9-year-old boy, said he fled his home in panic. His parents were at work at the time in the city center and he had not been able to find them.
"I don't know where they are. I don't know what is happening," he said.
One man, whose name was not given, told Mozambique television that he managed to escape from his house with just basic belongings.
"I don't know if my house has burned down," he said.
Five hours after the blaze started, there were still occasional explosions from the weapons depot in the Magoanine district, a poor neighborhood about five kilometers, or three miles, from the airport.
At the height of the inferno, some city center windows were shattered by the intense heat. Buildings also shook with the impact of the explosions.
|
