Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Explosions at Bolivia Army Base Near La Paz Kill Six as Searches Continue

Prosecutors opened manslaughter probes to investigate how confiscated fireworks and pyrotechnic material were stored.

Overview

  • Two successive blasts struck the RAM‑2 “Bolívar” maintenance centre in Viacha on Friday, detonating a section used to store fireworks and pyrotechnic material.
  • Rescue teams have recovered six bodies and treated scores of wounded with more than 80 people reported injured overall while searches go on for the missing.
  • The defence ministry says 11 uniformed personnel remain unaccounted for and that some of the missing are conscripts aged 18 and 19 who were serving mandatory service.
  • Firefighters warned a lingering heat source at the site could trigger further explosions, prompting evacuations, cordons and transfers of serious cases to hospitals in El Alto and La Paz.
  • President Rodrigo Paz ordered a technical inquiry and the Viacha public prosecutor has opened probes into manslaughter and related crimes to determine cause, storage practices and responsibility.