At least 15 dead, 400 wounded in Equatorial Guinea blasts

State television TVGE read out a statement from President Teodoro Obiang Nguema which said the explosion was due to the “negligent handling of dynamite” in the military barracks located in the neighborhood of Mondong Nkuantoma in Bata.

He said that the explosion occurred at 4 p.m. local time Sunday.

Health officials said that they believed there were people missing in buildings damaged by the blast.

There were some discrepancies with the death toll, with TVGE reporting 20 dead, a Health Ministry tweet saying 17 were killed and the president’s statement mentioning 15.