Recent Dar explosions

Another thing I haven't mentioned on here yet is the bombs that went off in Dar last week.  Here are some links to articles on it (though these aren't fully updated):

BBC Article

CNN Article


I still don't fully understand the story, nor do I know if anyone does, but some bombs exploded last week (Wed. night) at the military base here which is near the airport downtown (20 km from my house).  The explosions were apparently accidental.... I heard it may have been caused from the changes in temperature where they were stored because of all the power outages we've had lately (we've had horrible power problems this year; much worse than normal), but I'm not sure if that was the issue or not.  Several bombs went off over the course of a couple hours.  At least 30 people died, and there were hundreds of other injuries, many very serious.  Although I live 20 km from the site, the bombs could be heard in my area (most thought it was thunder) and many in my area felt the tremors shake their house.

The IT guy at our school, Victor, lives 750 meters from the military base and had bombs land in his front yard, meters away from his house.  There were full bombs that had not yet gone off that landed in his yard, as well as some bomb shells.  I just ran into him on campus and talked to him about it, and he showed me pictures on his phone of the bombs.  SO crazy.  The police/military came and removed the bombs the next morning (a couple hours after they were reported I think).  Apparently many bombs were found all over the city the next day; they were released during the explosion and landed in several places without going off.  Thankfully he and his family are fine, but several of his neighbors died or were seriously injured (2 died the following day of strokes).  He said the walls in his house have cracks in them now, though, from the explosions and that many things in his house were broken.

A cleaning lady at our school was also severely affected- her brother's legs were blown off during the blasts.  Children were orphaned, thousands of people were displaced, many now homeless, there are children still separated from their parents.... the list goes on.  My roommate Laura and I gave blood this weekend at a hospital downtown because there was/is a severe shortage of blood in the country (i.e. there was none at all in reserve when the explosions happened).  Please keep this city and all those affected in your prayers.

a view of the explosions from a distance

And here, BBC showing the story through pictures:

Pictures