Bata, 28 March, 2021 / 4:42 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Community of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne working among victims of a recent explosion that claimed more than 100 people in Bata in the Northwestern of Equatorial Guinea have recounted the horrific experience and how they sprang into action to assist those who had been affected.
“On Sunday, 7 March, around 1 p.m., we heard a loud noise, as if the house was shaking,” a member of the Congregation says in a report shared by Agenzia Fides Friday, March 26.
She further narrates, “A few minutes later, another noise was heard, which caused the destruction of the doors and windows of the hotel which is in front of the house. We started to receive calls and messages telling us what had happened, namely an explosion at the Nkoantoma barracks, which is some 6 km from where we live.”
Agenzia Fides reports that the Religious Sisters serve in the Catholic Diocese of Bata in city of Bata, the economic capital and the most populous city of Equatorial Guinea where, on March 7, at least five major explosions in the area of the Nkoantoma barracks destroyed a large part of the buildings of the military installations and surrounding houses.
The tragedy caused the loss of some 107 human lives; over 600 people got injuries of varied magnitude.