THE ANNABA DISASTER “= A FIRST HAND REPORT by Art Young
(Ed. note - The author is one of 45 Canadian students who spent 5 weeks in Algeria this summer, At the time of the explosion he was half a mile from the &ploding ship.)
July 23, 10 peme - a huge fireball illuminates the innaba night. Almost / instaneously, a sound and shock wave shatters windows for miles around, tears roofs off houses, killing and injuring many with flying debris. Panic spreads into the streets. The constant sound of gunfire and the dull glow in the direction of the port are interrupted from time to time by sporadic explosions and bursts of flame - none, however, approaching ‘the intensity of the intitial blast. This continues for over four hours. The explanation soon filters through the streets - an Egyptian ship, the "Star of Alexandria", docked in the port, carrying a cargo of munitions and cotton, has exploded snd is now burning.
Within an hour after the initial explosion, sound trucks begin circulating through the city, urging all persons to return to their homes, stating that situation is under control, and instructing all members of the FLN to report to party headquarters. Vehicles are commandeered in the streets, and the rescue services begin to operate. The Caroubier Hospital, close to the port, is rapidly evacuated. At another hospital, where the victims begin to be gathered, indications of the scope of the disaster become clear. The deaths: mutilations, and misery directly caused by the explosion are compounded by the absence of trained medical personnel. Only two doctors can be found in the city; many people with only rudimentary experience in medicine of first aid are pressed into positions of responsibility - one of them performing amputations and surgery. (This lack of medical personnel is just one example of the crushing lack of cadre in all fields in presentday Algeria.)
By next morning. a preliminary toll can be compiled - about 100 killed, several hundred injured, a major portion of the docks destroyed, as well as numerous warehouses and stores in the port area. Buildings as far away from the docks as several miles bear signs of the event. The afternoon of the 24th, the clean-up begins in earnest. The army seals off the port area, still littered with live explosives. The FLN is motilised, giving blood, and helping in other tasks; the JFLN (youth section of the FLN) constitutes itself a work gang, going into the old city to aid the clean-up. The arduous task of salvaging whatever possible from the partially-destroyed buildings, and of taking stock is begun. After a few days, life begins to return to normal. In some areas of the city, the only signs of the disaster are the shattered windows of many buildings and an abnormally large number of persons with bandages. To completely repair the damage, however, will take many years of concentrated effort - and there can be reparation of the deaths and mutilations.
At the time this is being written, the cause of the explosion is still not clear. Of the two hypotheses, accident and sabotage, the latter is charged by the Algerian authorities, and is widely accepted, even in the foreign press. The powder magazine of the boat, where the explosion first .. occurred, was galed at the time; furthermore, there was no fire on board before the explosion, It is also worth noting that a munitions dump Sidi- Feruch blew ‘J 4 days before the Annaba event. Two such accidents within 4 days are higik improbable. With the Algorian revolution at 2 critical crossroads, such blows by the counterrevolution certainly cannot be excluded,