Dili, 9 May 2000
Eleven people, including one Peacekeeper from the New Zealand Battalion and four children, were injured on Monday in an explosion accident on the outskirts of Suai, in the district of Covalima.
The explosion happened at 4 p.m. at a garbage damp near the Peacekeeping Force Headquarters on the road to Zumalai, about 14 kilometers northeast of Suai. The ten Timorese injured are civilians from Labarai village and they are all man.
Four people were seriously injured, aged seven, 14, 17 and 59 years old. They were taken to Dili today to the ICRC hospital. The other seven had with superficial burns and were transferred from the New Zealand field surgical hospital to the Suai Hospital on Monday afternoon. They are stable and in a good condition.
According to the preliminary report of UNTAET in Suai, there is no evidence of the cause of the explosion, and it seems that it was a spontaneous combustion. CivPol investigation is ongoing.
Today, the Acting District Administration in Suai met the families of the Timorese injured and the local CNRT to express deep concern for the injured.
