A mushroom cloud could be seen across the Congo River from an explosion in a munition arms dump depot in the former French colony around 8am local Congo time. Around 200 are feared dead. The explosion blew out windows 2.5 miles away and flattened houses near the blast.
The explosion happened in Brazzaville, capital of the Congo Republic, a huge exporter of oil.
“I saw someone being carried to hospital with their intestines hanging out. They had been hit by a shell,” one witness told Reuters as he was leaving the blast zone.
A nearby church was flattened and officials have counted 136 bodies since mid afternoon Congo time. Corpses and body parts litter the streets surrounding the area.
Since gaining independence from France in 1960, the nation has been ravaged by civil war but has reminained peaceful since a coup in 1997.
It isn’t suprising that an accident like this would happen. Both Congos have been ravaged by civil war and dangerous stockpiles of weapons are common.
The bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo across the river from the explosion has one of the worst human rights records in the world, with prevalent rape and sexual violence that goes unreported by the state run media.
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