In early afternoon on Wednesday 25th June, a power transformer exploded at Barthelemy Boganda High School during a baccalaureate exam. According to media reports, over 5,300 students were taking the exam at the time. The explosion and subsequent fire caused chaos, with candidates rushing out of the school by any means possible due to the limited number of emergency exits. Some candidates were pushed to jump from balconies.
The Central African authorities organised the emergency response, sending ambulances to transport patients to nearby hospitals, including two facilities where MSF has teams: the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Communautaire (CHUC) is the closest hospital to the school, where 85 wounded were admitted and the SICA hospital run by MSF, where 46 patients were admitted.
Authorities haven’t released the exact number of victims yet. Some sources indicate that at least 10 people died, with several others critically injured but the final toll may be much bigger.
MSF teams were quickly mobilized to support triage, provide first aid, and respond to the emergency with medical staff and essential medicines at CHUC and SICA hospital. Additional medical teams from MSF's emergency response unit in CAR (EURECA) have also been deployed in CHUC.
Please find a voice note of MSF CAR's Head of Mission Khaled Fekih: https://media.msf.org/Share/3644msckjr3360o6liys7rqe0am17b1y