Explosion Rocks Tanzania

By Eric Sande

DAR-ES-SALAAM---A series of blasts showered the city of Dar es Salaam at a military munitions dump killing at least 25 people late Wednesday night. Some 23 munitions depots, a secondary school and two houses were destroyed in the chain of explosions at the Gongo la Mboto military base.

A stampede getaway was prompted Thursday when Thousands of people crowded at a stadium crumbling for safety. In the mayhem of residents fleeing the blasts, more than 150 children lost track of their parents, and officials appealed for mothers and fathers to report to the stadium to reunite with their offspring.

At least 4,000 people have been sheltered at the National Stadium, according to Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda speaking in Parliament in Dodoma on Thursday.

Hidan Ricco, the head of Tanzania's Red Cross disaster management team, said there were about 200 unaccompanied children at the stadium, some of whom are only months old. A city official appealed for parents to find their children.

The bomb explosion rocked Gongolamboto at around 6.30pm on Wednesday, and turmoil spread in all three nearby wards; Kivule, Kitunda and Chanika resulting to closure of the Mwalimu JK Nyerere International airport and the Nyerere road.

Confirming the incidence, The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Said Mwema sent a communiqué through Short Message Service (SMS) broadcast via mobile phones at around 10 and 11 pm on Wednesday directing people to be patient while the efforts to surmount the problem are on progress.

“Tanzania Police Force, would like to inform you, there has been an accident at Military Camp in Ukonga, the situation is under control, be advised to stay calm-IGP,” reads the SMS.

President Jakaya Kikwete promised an investigation into the explosions Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the second fatal military ammo dump explosion in Tanzania's commercial capital in less than two years. An accident at a Dar es Salaam military base in 2009 killed more than a dozen people.