BUJUMBURA, Burundi – A devastating accidental fire at a Burundian military ammunition storage facility has left 13 people dead and dozens more injured after igniting stored explosives that sparked hours of blasts across the southern outskirts of the country’s largest city, Burundi’s military confirmed Wednesday.
The deadly chain of events unfolded overnight Tuesday in the Musaga district on the outskirts of Bujumbura, East Africa’s Burundi’s primary commercial and population hub. According to army spokesperson Gaspard Baratuza, the disaster originated from an electrical short circuit inside the secured storage unit located within the military camp.
By Wednesday morning, official tallies confirmed 13 fatalities and at least 57 injured people, with three of the wounded being active-duty soldiers. Spokesperson Baratuza noted that authorities have not yet released a breakdown confirming whether all fatalities were civilian residents of nearby neighborhoods.
Local residents living within close proximity of the military installation fled their homes in immediate panic as blasts rocked the area. The intensity of the fire was so great that glowing plumes of smoke could be spotted from kilometers away. The force of the repeated explosions sent live munitions flying into residential areas surrounding the camp, prompting senior military leader Major General Aloys Ndayikengurukiye to issue a public appeal for residents to report any unspent ordnance or unfamiliar suspicious objects immediately so that explosive ordnance disposal teams can remove them safely.
In an effort to curb widespread misinformation that spread rapidly across local communities in the hours after the blasts, Baratuza explicitly stated that the incident was not the result of a militant or rebel attack on the military installation. The fire knocked out local power grids, cutting electricity service to the military camp and all adjacent neighborhoods. Baratuza called on residents of the most affected areas – Gasekebuye, Kanyosha, Kinindo and their surrounding suburbs – to remain calm and avoid unnecessary panic amid ongoing response and cleanup operations.
The incident, which dates to April 1, 2026, is currently the deadliest accidental disaster recorded in Burundi so far this year, as recovery efforts continue and authorities work to clear all hazardous unexploded materials from affected residential areas.