[3] In addition, a heat wave and drought had been affecting the area for much of the summer, with temperatures around 35 °C (93 °F) being reported.
[1] Health Minister Ivo Garrido said on March 23 that 83 fatalities (later updated to 93) were reported and that more than 300 people were injured.
Most of the casualties were either military personnel working at the depot or civilians, many of them children, who lived in a nearby poor neighborhood.
[3] As a result, the government announced three days of national mourning and declared that flags be flown at half mast.
[3] The Interior Ministry ordered police and firefighters to aid the military in destroying the remaining ammunition at the depot, which had not been used since the country's civil war and was considered obsolete.