Twin blasts at a Bolivian military base kill two, leave 14 missing
Investigators are combing the scene to discover if pyrotechnics stored on site could have contributed to the explosion.
![Firefighters, police officers and military personnel at the site of an explosion at an army barracks in Viacha. [AFP]](https://aljazeeranews-mggx1uo47w.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/afp_6a9b801acfa1-1788575770.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Two explosions at a military base in the Bolivian city of Viacha have killed at least two people and injured dozens of others, according to authorities.
The blasts occurred on Friday in an area used to store pyrotechnic material, about 30km (18 miles) from the administrative capital La Paz, Bolivia’s Ministry of Defence said.
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The most up-to-date death toll comes from Defence Minister Ernesto Justianiano, who said at least two deaths had been confirmed, while 14 people remain missing.
On Friday, the Viacha health director Rita Nebraska gave a local television station an initial estimate that put the death toll between 10 and 15 people, with 62 others injured. The defence minister corrected the numbers on Saturday.
Among the missing are a sergeant and 13 conscripts aged 18 and 19, who were serving their mandatory one-year military service.
Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca said.
The defence ministry has indicated that the first explosion involved the kind of black powder used in pyrotechnic material, but the cause and material involved in a second, larger explosion is unclear.
Investigators are said to be exploring how the pyrotechnics were stored on the site.
Residents in the area were evacuated to a temporary shelter.
“It is not yet safe” for them to return home because “some houses were damaged by the shockwave”, according to Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano.
![Military personnel evacuating civilians near the site of an explosion at an army barracks in Viacha. [AFP]](https://aljazeeranews-mggx1uo47w.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/afp_6a9b8149021c-1788576073.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Footage posted on social media showed one of the explosions shattering windows in nearby buildings and sending debris into the air as thick black smoke rose from the military facility.
Police said dozens of homes were damaged and that civilians were injured by the broken glass.
About 50 civilians and six military personnel injured in the explosions “have been treated … by the different medical centres of Viacha”, Justiniano said in a statement.
