Blasts at Bolivian military base kill at least 10, injure dozens

Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026.

Key points

• Viacha health director Rita Nebraska informed a local television station that between 10 and 15 residents were believed to have been killed and 62 others were injured.
• Two explosions at a military facility in the Bolivian city of Viacha have killed at least 10 individuals and injured dozens of others, authorities stated.
• She remarked 14 of the wounded were transferred to hospitals in La Paz, including a girl with third-degree burns.
• Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca remarked.
• Firefighters cautioned that a heat source remained at the site, Nebraska stated, urging residents to stay at least 150 metres away since of the risk of another explosion.

Notably, the blasts occurred on Friday in an area applied to store pyrotechnic material, concerning 30km (18 miles) from the administrative capital, La Paz, Bolivia's Ministry of Defence noted.

Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca remarked. He continued that seven residents were still missing.

Police remarked dozens of nearby homes were damaged and that numerous civilians were injured by shattered glass.

Regarding 50 civilians and six military personnel injured in the explosions "have been treated. By the different medical centres of Viacha", Deputy Minister of Defence Ernesto Justiniano Urenda stated in an official note.

In practice, an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosions, how the pyrotechnic material was stored and whether anyone was responsible, he continued.

Footage posted on social media indicated one of the explosions shattering windows in nearby buildings and sending debris into the air as thick black smoke rose from the facility.

Taken together, the developments around blasts at Bolivian military base kill at least 10, injure dozens point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.