New victims are added from a strong explosion that occurred on Friday at a military barracks in Bolivia. Search teams found in the last hours a seventh deceased at the Bolívar Artillery Regiment, where the accident occurred, in the city of Viacha, about 30 kilometers from the country’s political capital, La Paz. There are seven missing and at least 80 injured in an incident whose causes are still officially unknown, but whose preliminary investigations and main hypotheses point to poor administration and maintenance of the room where explosives and pyrotechnic material are stored.
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Firefighters, soldiers, and rescuers found detonator multipliers explosives, a large number of grenades, and war material in a compromised structure, so the search for missing persons is carried out with caution and slowness, according to a report from the Ministry of Defense. So far it is known that on Friday two detonations occurred at the beginning of the afternoon: a first caused by black powder corresponding to pyrotechnic material, according to the Defense Ministry, and a second whose origin has not yet been determined, but which caused a blast wave of much greater magnitude than the first.
The barracks was reduced to rubble; most of the deceased were found under the ruins. In addition, the houses located around the regiment also suffered damage and the authorities prohibit their residents from returning to their homes due to other still latent explosion risks. As a temporary shelter, the facilities of a music school have been enabled. Viacha, the third most populated municipality of La Paz, has five military barracks with war material. All of them are installed in the urban center of the city.
The director of Environmental Management and Risk of Viacha, Marco Martínez, warned of the danger posed to the Viacha population by having regiments near civilians. “It is necessary to verify in the other military units of the municipality what the conditions of storage of all the war material are. With this experience, inspections should already be carried out in all units.” Martínez assured that during the rescue searches, firecrackers and pyrotechnics “normally used in parties” were found, which could have been confiscated by the Army. According to the current legal regulations in Bolivia, all explosive material or weapons in general that have been seized must be delivered to the Ministry of Defense for destruction.
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In the videos circulating on social media, houses with broken windows, debris flying through the air, and dense columns of black smoke can be seen. The Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation ex officio for the alleged crimes of negligent homicide, negligent injuries, and other damages.
The president, Rodrigo Paz, visited the town this Monday to announce a national mourning and the start of a “thorough, technical, and transparent” investigation to review the handling of explosive devices and sensitive material in all military units in the country. “We are a Bolivian family that has to move forward. To the families who want to know something about their relatives, we say that we want to recover them. It has been a hard blow for everyone, but we have the strength and spirit to move forward,” he said at a press conference.
Upon the president’s arrival in Viacha, families demanded compensation for the tragedy. Six of the seven deceased are conscripts between 17 and 19 years old who were fulfilling mandatory military service in Bolivia. The last death corresponds to an instructor sergeant.
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