AP News, March 22nd, 2007
A fire broke out and explosions rocked Mozambique's national weapons depot in the capital on Thursday, killing at least nine people and sending thousands streaming from their homes in panic, officials said.
President Armando Guebuza appealed for calm on national television as firefighters and military officials tried to control the blaze. Health Ministry spokesman Edgar Cossa told Mozambique television that there were at least nine fatalities, including one child.
The area around the depot was sealed off by police as ambulances rushed casualties to the main hospital. Downtown streets were filled with people fleeing the area, with hundreds preparing to sleep in the countryside and others searching for loved ones.
Some windows in downtown Maputo were shattered by the intense heat from the fire. Buildings also shook with the impact of the explosions at the weapons depot, located in a poor neighborhood about three miles from the airport.
Joao Temba, a 9-year-old boy, said he had rushed from his home in panic. His parents were at work in Maputo's city center and he had not been able to find them.
"I don't know where they are. I don't know what is happening," he said.
The national armory is used to store weapons and ammunition, including some from the southern African nation's long civil war that ended in 1992. It was the scene of a fire and explosion in January, when three people were injured. Authorities blamed that fire on the heat.
Guebuza said the military was investigating the cause of Thursday's explosions.
