Soldiers hurt as BDF munitions ignite

Residents within a one-mile radius of the Barbados Defence Force’s Paragon Base location in Christ Church got a major scare on Friday morning from a massive explosion on the compound.

The blast, which occurred just after 11 a.m. and lasted several minutes, resulted in the injury of two soldiers, a male and a female, who were rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

The extent of their injuries and current condition were not immediately clear.

The blast occurred in a container that was housing “fireworks and other explosive devices”, according to Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss.

A second container was damaged and a section of the lawn also caught fire.

Several residents in nearby communities told Barbados TODAY that they were home when they heard the explosion.

One resident who gave her name as Charmaine, said she was in bed watching television when she suddenly heard “boom”.

“I said wait, that is thunder, and quick so the electricity and everything went out. When I looked through the window I saw some big black smoke. I was like, oh my God, a plane blow up? And me and my neighbour came out and we see all the smoke,” she recalled.

“It sent things through my ears. So then I went here and see all the ambulance and fire trucks. They said, the place by the BDF blow up. It got me still in shock, it happened so close,” said the woman.

Four fire tenders initially responded to the incident and quickly brought the fire under control. Several officers from the Oistins and Airport police stations also responded, and the area was quickly blocked off to members of the public.

Inspector Inniss said immediately following the explosion authorities thought about evacuating everyone from the compound, but after initial investigations, it was decided that an evacuation would not be necessary.

“It has been brought under control and the fire has been fully extinguished. The fire personnel has advised us that at this stage everything remains normal,” said Inniss.

Giving the assurance that the explosion took place a good distance from the COVID-19 quarantine facility and other main buildings, Inniss described the mood on the compound as “quiet and normal”.

“We are comfortable at this stage,” he said, pointing out that as investigations continued strong focus was being placed on the immediate area of the explosion and the two injured soldiers.

When our news team arrived on the location some smoke could be seen on a section of the grounds of the airport, but after checking with officials they could not verify that it was caused by the explosion and it would also be investigated.

A resident who lives a stone’s throw away from the Paragon Base, who gave her name only as Diana, told Barbados TODAY she was standing on a section of the road near her home looking in the opposite direction to the facility when she heard the boom!

“I felt it in my heart area. Next minute I see a cloud, a big set of smoke come up and I thought somebody drop a bomb on Barbados how it exploded. Then I saw all the firecrackers start flying all about, and I just started hollering for my sisters and telling them something just happened at Paragon,” said the shocked resident.

BDF Chief of Staff Colonel Glyne Grannum, Fire Chief Errol Maynard and Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, in his capacity as a member of the Defence Board and National Security Council, visited the location.

The Paragon compound, which is located south of the Grantley Adams International Airport, is the base for several organisations, including the regional security system, a section of the BDF and the quarantine centre.

Bostic gave the assurance that the individuals being housed at the quarantine/isolation facility at the Paragon base were safe.

“I am really sorry about what happened and I can give the assurance that Paragon is a really large compound and that the quarantine centre at Paragon was not in the area of the explosion and that all persons – staff as well as the patients there – are quite well and not impacted in any way at all. They are safe and did not have to evacuate,” said Bostic.

Barbados TODAY understands that some people who were in quarantine at Harrison’s Point in St Lucy were being transported to the Paragon base and had just entered the compound when the blast occurred in a munitions container.

“We were driving up towards the gate to come in and there was smoke coming from there. We sense that something was going down then the whole thing started to explode as though someone dropped a bomb on the base,” one of the quarantined patients told Barbados TODAY.

“It just started exploding. It lasted a few minutes, maybe ten minutes or more,” he added. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb