DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, April 30 (UPI) -- Explosions at a munitions depot at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Wednesday left at least three people dead and scores more wounded, authorities said.
Police said several buildings were set on fire by debris from the blasts at Mbagala army base, the BBC reported. Concussions from at least three blasts were felt throughout the city, the British network said.
Polycalypo Makunja described the panic, carnage and destruction he saw immediately after the explosions.
"The first thing I did was run. Everybody around me was running away," he told the BBC's Web site. "I passed people with injuries -- broken arms, bleeding heads. Fires were burning. It was very bad."
The Temeke hospital was filled with casualties and the death toll was expected to rise, the BBC said.
Temeke Municipality Red Cross Chairman Amir Mgaya said a group of children drowned as they struggled to cross a river while running away from the explosions, a Tanzanian newspaper, The Citizen, reported. The BBC said the reported drownings were unconfirmed, however.
As many as 200 children were reported missing in the chaos immediately after the blasts, The Citizen said.
