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1st LD: Dump site explosion in Benin capital kills 100, injures at least 200

Xinhua, September 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Almost 100 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in an explosion which occurred Thursday at a waste-burning site in Benin's largest city and economic capital Cotonou, local media reported on Friday.

Local private television Canal3 reported that the blast had resulted from rotten flour which didn't burn off fully at the landfill site about 20 kilometers north of Cotonou.

The heavy casualties were caused because locals rushed to fetch the rotten flour after authorities monitoring the burning left the site, it reported.

Earlier, under supervision by local police and customs officials, the rotten flour that had been confiscated at the Cotonou customs were carried to the site for burning.

The report added that death toll could further climb because some of the injured were in critical conditions due to severe burnings. Endit