Sierra Leone Fuel tanker explosion kills at least 98
Fuel spilt before igniting, and the resulting inferno engulfed bystanders and vehicles at a busy junction. Footage broadcast by local media outlets showed badly charred bodies in the streets surrounding the tanker.
After visiting the scene, Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said it was a "national disaster."He said that the injured would receive free medical treatment. Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr described seeing "harrowing" photos.
Some 92 people are being treated in hospitals and health centres around Freetown, some of whom are overwhelmed. The explosion is believed to have happened at a junction outside the busy Choithram Supermarket in the densely populated Wellington suburb in the east of the city at around 22:00 GMT on Friday.
Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said the vehicles collided when the tanker entered a nearby filling station to discharge its fuel. The drivers, noticing a leak, exited their cars and warned people to stay away. The explosion occurred when people tried to collect the power, the NDMA said.
One report said a completely burnt bus while nearby shops and market stalls were caught up in flames. Brima Bureh Sesay, head of Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency, said there were many "burnt corpses"."It's a terrible, terrible accident," he told local media in a video shared from the scene.
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