An electricity transformer exploded causing panic among thousands of students. 29 of them died and 280 were injured | Credit: Rolf Steve Domia-leu/RFI
In a country where civilians frequently die victims of the nationwide infighting, thousands of young students were sitting at a baccalaureate school in the Central African Republic when a loud explosion, followed by smoke, caused extreme panic, the BBC reported on Thursday.
“The noise of the explosion, combined with smoke”, caused alarm among the almost 6,000 students sitting the baccalaureate at a school in the capital, Bangui, local radio station Ndeke Luka reported, according to the BBC.
When the thousands of students panicked and began running for their lives, 29 children were crushed to death and 280 more were wounded, a hospital director told the British broadcasting outlet. Due to the tragic incident, the president of the African nation, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, has declared a period of national mourning. Touadéra also ordered that the nearly 300 students injured receive free hospital treatment.
Electricity transformer explosion
The BBC explained that the thousands of children were at the Lycée Barthélémy Boganda for a baccalaureate test.
The country’s education ministry stated that the explosion occurred after power was restored to the electricity transformer, located on the ground floor of the main building. The transformer was being repaired at the time.
In a Facebook statement, Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zimgas offered his “sincere condolences to the parents of the affected candidates and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured candidates.” Due to the incident, the minister suspended further exams.
Radio France Internationale spoke to one of the survivors whose face was covered in blood after he had climbed out of a window.
“The students wanted to save their lives, and as they fled, they saw death because there were so many people and the door was tiny. Not everyone could get out,” one witness told the French news radio outlet.
The Central African Republic is going through political instability and security challenges.
Government forces, backed by Russian mercenaries, are battling armed groups threatening to overthrow Touadéra’s administration.
There’s reason to panic
Since gaining independence in 1960, the 0CAR has experienced decades of violence and instability, including six coups, the Global Conflict Tracker website states.
Despite repeated efforts to attain peace and disarmament, an insurgency led by Seleka forces—a coalition of armed, primarily Muslim groups—seized the capital of Bangui and ousted the government of François Bozizé in 2013.
The UN Security Council established a peacekeeping force in April 2014 in the CAR. However, the humanitarian crisis in CAR continues to worsen, with around 70 per cent of the population living in extreme poverty and around 3.4 million people in need of assistance. Spillover from neighbouring Sudan’s civil war has also worsened the situation in the African nation.
“Since the outbreak of renewed conflict in 2013, thousands of people have been killed, and the number of refugees has reached 750,000, the majority of whom have fled to neighbouring Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while an additional 500,000 have been internally displaced,” the Global Conflict Tracker adds.
