Verification Info
Guinea: The explosion of the Conakry oil depot seen from space
More than 200 injured and at least 18 dead. The explosion at the fuel depot in the port of Conakry on 18 December continues to paralyze the country. Satellite images, obtained by RFI's Info Verif unit, show the extent of the damage. The head of the transition, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, declared three days of national mourning in tribute to the victims.
A large plume of smoke is visible from space over the Kaloum peninsula. © Satellite image/ Airbus DS (19 December 2023)
By: Olivier Fourt Follow | Grégory Genevrier Follow
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For several days, the inhabitants of Conakry lived under the thick plume of black smoke that escaped from the Kaloum fuel depot, after the explosion occurred on the night of Sunday to Monday 18 December. The oil terminal, located in the heart of the Kaloum peninsula, owned by the Guinean Petroleum Company (SGP), was largely razed to the ground by the explosion. The shock wave was felt throughout the city, according to several testimonies collected by RFI.
Images from space, captured by the Pléiades Neo satellite constellation of the European Airbus DS, and dated 19 December, show more than a dozen storage tanks totally destroyed. In view of the concentration of the damage and the origin of the smoke, the explosion seems to have occurred in the western part of the terminal, which has seventeen tanks. The three tanks further east are still standing, although one of them appears damaged.
Satellite image of the oil depot before the explosion. © Screenshot/ Google Maps (January 2023)
Satellite image of the oil depot after the explosion. © Screenshot/ Airbus DS (December 19, 2023)
The plume of smoke, visible from space, rises several hundred meters above Kaloum. On Monday 19 December, the International Charter Agency on Space and Major Disasters estimated that more than 6,000 people and 3,600 buildings were living under the plume of smoke. Satellite images from 20 December show a clear decrease in smoke. This is confirmed by the analysis of the data available on Firms, NASA's website dedicated to the detection of fires and heat sources.
Each red dot corresponds to a heat spot detected by NASA's satellites. © Screenshots/ Firms
Known risks
As the oil depot is located in a highly urbanized civilian area, the explosion caused a lot of damage in the neighborhood. The latest official death toll is 18. Several buildings collapsed and windows were blown out. This is the case in the premises of the media outlet Guinée News, located one kilometre from the depot.
The aftermath of the explosion of the oil depot at the Port of Conakry. The premises of @Guineenews affected. The damage is extensive#Kibaro pic.twitter.com/W3yz3cE1hP
— Diallo Ken (@2kendess) December 19, 2023
To help the survivors who have lost everything, several reception centres and temporary shelters have been set up, notably on the esplanade of the People's Palace and on the square in front of the Faisal Mosque.
The risks associated with the presence of this depot in the middle of the city were known. A project to relocate the depot from Conakry to Moribayah has been mooted for several years. In 2022, the director general of the National Petroleum Company (Sonap), Amadou Doumbouya, said: "The Conakry depot is in the middle of the city. This, of course, poses a safety and security problem." Today, several thousand people still live within 1.5 kilometres of the oil depot.
The Charter has been activated to provide satellite data over an explosion at an oil depot in Conakry, Guinea: https://t.co/as7FyJ9C6r
Our first map of the disaster estimates the number of people and buildings in the affected area. pic.twitter.com/zCyKCLQf1W
— Disasters Charter (@DisastersChart) December 19, 2023
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- Guinea
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- Mamadi Doumbouya
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