AA / Tunis / Salim Boussaïd
Chad’s Minister of Health, Abdelmadjid Abderahim, told local media on Wednesday that the provisional toll from the explosion of an ammunition depot the day before in Goudji, N’Djamena, was 9 deaths and 46 injured.
The information was reported on Wednesday by local media including the leading online newspaper “alwihdainfo.com”.
“The Minister of Public Health communicated an assessment of the incident, indicating that nine people lost their lives and 46 injured were admitted to hospital,” the newspaper reported.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who visited the scene of the tragedy on Wednesday morning, accompanied by his Prime Minister Allah-Maye Halina and many other personalities, announced the opening of an investigation to determine the causes of the explosion.
“An ammunition depot at the strategic reserve camp, commonly known as the powder camp, caught fire, causing general panic across N’Djamena, which endured a terrible night,” the Chadian presidency website said.
“The debris and smoke were still visible this morning when the head of state, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, arrived, testifying to the violence of the fire which triggered a series of resounding explosions which shook the entire city” , further details the Chadian presidency, reporting “collapsed buildings, charred armored vehicles, containers stolen to pieces, destroyed weapons and a quantity of debris from unexploded shells”.
This explosion comes a few weeks after the presidential election of May 6 which allowed Mahamad Déby to succeed his father Idriss Déby Itno, killed at the front in April 2021, after a three-year transition.
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