An Italian missionary who was involved in the April 16 mine explosion at a Catholic Mission in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) had escaped a similar incident two years ago.
Agenzia Fides reports that Fr. Arialdo Urbani, an 83-year-old Italian Betharramite missionary was the only passenger that walked away unscathed when a car he was traveling in was hit in a mine explosion, killing four passengers in the vehicle.
According to the April 21 Agenzia Fides report, the mine exploded near the car of the Catholic mission of Niem, between the villages of Ndongue Douane and Sokorta, 115 km from Bouar, in CAR.
Four people died in the explosion that also left some people injured, Agenzia Fides reports, and adds, “In the car was Father Arialdo Urbani, an 83-year-old Italian Betharramite missionary.”
“The missionary, who has been working in the village of Niem, in the northwest of the country, since 1986, is doing well,” the information service of Propaganda Fide says.
This is the second time that the missionary has stumbled upon a mine, Fathers of Betharram (from the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bétharram) tell Agenzia Fides, and add, “It happened only two years ago, also that time a few kilometers from Niem. Also on that occasion, Father Arialdo was unharmed, while a third person, who was in the missionary’s jeep, died as a result of the impact.”
Local authorities have said that the mine that hit the Niem mission car was placed by rebels from the Coalition des patriotes pour le Changement (CPC), a formation born in December 2020 from the union of six armed groups, under the aegis of CAR’s former President François Bozizé.
Another Italian missionary, the Carmelite Fr. Norberto Pozzi, was seriously injured in a February 10 mine along the Bozoum-Bocaranga road.
Fr. Norberto, a member of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, was injured on February 10 when the car he was traveling in drove over a mine, causing it to explode, on his way to Bocaranga, a city that is northwest of CAR’s capital, Bangui.
Following the explosion, the Catholic Missionary Priest underwent several grueling surgeries in CAR, Uganda, and finally in Italy where he was flown to have his leg amputated in an operation that was described as “very complicated”.
Source : aciafrica