17 dead in Tanzania arms depot blast

NAIROBI/DAR ES SALAAM - At least 17 people died when a series of explosions ripped through an arms depot in Tanzania’s capital Dar es Salaam, the prime minister said Thursday.

Foul play was not suspected in the second such incident in Tanzania in recent years.

Mizengo Pinda, addressing lawmakers, said the explosions began late Wednesday in the Gongo la Mboto army base, destroying dozens of arms caches.

The blasts rained debris down on surrounding residential neighbourhoods, destroying homes and sending thousands fleeing in panic.

Pinda said 4,000 people were sheltering in the national stadium, and that the death toll could rise as more bodies were pulled from the wreckage.

More than 100 people were believed to have been injured in what appears to be a repeat of an incident at different army base in 2009.

Then, 26 people were killed, more than 300 injured and thousands of homes destroyed as rockets and artillery shells exploded at a base outside the city.

In a statement released last year, the US State Department said the 2009 incident illustrated a growing worldwide problem.

“As this and all-too-frequent incidents illustrate, poorly maintained, improperly stored, or inadequately guarded conventional weapons and munitions pose as significant a humanitarian challenge as the well-known threat of landmines and other explosive remnants of war left uncleared from past conflicts,” the statement said.

“The frequency of such incidents has increased as urban populations have expanded outward from city centers to the vicinity of what were often previously isolated depots,” it added.

“As munitions deteriorate further, new tragedies will follow unless this problem is more widely acknowledged and addressed.”

As of the time of the statement, there had been 218 known incidents involving these dangerous depots, resulting in more than 4,700 fatalities and nearly 5,700 injuries, according to the state department.