Death toll from Sudan ammo dump up to 27
By Nima Elbagir
JUBA, Sudan, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The death toll from an explosion at an ammunition dump in south Sudan has risen to at least 27 and people are still looking for relatives who are missing, the acting governor said on Thursday.
“There are 27 dead, 75 injured, some of them severely, and 1,600 people in need of shelter,” said Simon Wani, the administrator in charge of Bahr al-Jabal state.
“Some are in very bad condition so one could expect that some may die. People up to this time are still looking for missing persons, going through buildings,” he told reporters.
Residents of Juba, the largest town in southern Sudan, questioned the official toll, saying that given the size of Wednesday’s explosion and its location — at a military training centre in a crowded part of town — more must have been killed.
“In my family alone, five have died since yesterday afternoon,” said Boniface Khamis, a 58-year-old army sergeant.
Khamis showed reporters the smouldering body of his brother in the charred remains of their cousin’s shop in the customs market, right next to the military camp.
Noel Malok, a technician at Juba University, said he too had come to the market area to look for the body of his brother.
“A rocket has fallen through the roof of my brother’s house, kiling him and his wife. How can the government say there are only 24 dead?” he told reporters, citing an earlier toll.
When the ammunition dump exploded, artillery shells and mortars rained down up to two km (1.2 miles) away and the fireball at the centre destroyed many houses, residents said.
The road between the market and the governor’s office was littered on Thursday with shrapnel and pieces of ordnance.
The army said on Wednesday the blast was caused by a warehouse fire and that it did not believe “hostile action” was involved. Juba stayed in government hands throughout two decades of civil war, with a large garrison to protect it from rebels.
But people at the market said soldiers might have saved many lives by telling people to clear the area 10 minutes before the explosions started.
The accident has also added to the tension between the local people and the northern government.
“No ambulance came,” said Ismail Adam. “We just threw sand over the fire in the souk (market). Now that we are no longer strategic to the government, they don’t care if we die.”
“I blame the northern government,” Achol Deng, a 24-year-old trader, said as he sifted through sacks of burnt grain salvaged from the rubble of his stall. “This town has been jinxed by them. We will have no luck until they leave.”