3 killed, some 60 injured in Benin dump site blast: minister

Three people were killed and some 60 others injured in an explosion Thursday at a waste-burning site in Benin's largest city Cotonou, the country's health minister Seydou Alassane said Friday.

Philippe Hossou, president of a local youth association, however said that nearly 100 people were killed and 200 others suffering severe burns in the blast at the Tori-Avame landfill site, located 30 km north of Cotonou.

Local private television Canal 3 also reported Friday that the blast, resulting from rotten flour which didn't burn off fully, left some 100 people dead.

According to the report, there were thousands of people rushed and went down the ignition pit trying to retrieve sacks of spoiled wheat flour that were being incinerated.

The stock of spoiled wheat flour being destroyed was from the warehouse of Cotonou Port Customs. It was discharged in a pit, sprinkled with petrol and then set on fire in the presence of police and gendarmerie officers.

However, as authorities and security forces left, locals went to the pit and tried to retrieve sacks of wheat flour when a sudden loud blast expanded the fire.

Source : XINHUA