PANIC in Arstotzka! - At least 200 die as bombs destroy Grestin Medical Center

[President Costava]

ARSTOTZKA - At least 200 people have died and 180 have been injured as huge explosions tore through the Jorji Costava Medical Center in Grestin City during the evening. Near simultaneous blasts hit the Emergency Room and the Non-Emergency Reception. Early reports say that two bombs exploded on one ambulance as it pulled into the parking lot right next to the emergency room. Blasts were also believed to have taken place on an unidentified vehicle right outside the reception. The government said there were four explosions altogether.

 

Vladimir Rostov, 35, who was in a corridor not too far from the explosion, said: "People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other. I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground." The Arstotzkan Red Cross has set up an emergency field hospital outside the Medical Center, which is the major Hospital of Arstotzka and serves the entire population of the City and its outskirts.

 

Grestin Rescue Services official said there was "a multitude" of injured at the medical center. Emergency services are trying to rescue patients, doctors and nurses trapped under the rubbles. Clinics in the city have appealed for people to come forward to give blood. A vast morgue has been set up in an exhibition hall and busloads of relatives are arriving to try to identify remains. Authorities have warned it is almost impossible to match body parts.

 

The Government declared a state of emergency in the country and enacted all anti-terrorism protocols. Arstotzka's national telephone operator, ArstotzTelekom, has urged people to send text messages instead of making calls to take the pressure off the network, which has collapsed. No group has admitted carrying out the attacks but the Arstotzkan government blames the far-left revolutionary group "Order of the Red Star of Arstotzka" for the bombings.

 

"There is no doubt the Red Star Order is responsible," said Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma following an emergency cabinet meeting. "The far left wing had been looking for a massacre in Arstotzka," Mr Kuchma added. Mr Kuchma said there was no prior warning of the explosions.

 

The leader of one outlawed Red Star Order cells linked to the now defunct Communist Party of Arstotzka, denied the Grestin bombings were the work of the revolutionary group. He suggested "rogue secret services" elements could be behind the attacks. Police are reported to be hunting for three men seen jumping outside a ground floor window next to the sites where the explosions happened.

 

Edited September 18, 2013 by President Costava