At least 99 people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion caused by a collision in the capital of Sierra Leone on Friday.
A vehicle crashed into a fuel tanker causing an explosion in Wellington, a suburb east of Freetown. According to deputy health minister Amara Jambai, the explosion lead to at least 99 deaths while over 100 people are being treated in hospitals throughout the city.
The mayor of the port city Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr wrote a post on Facebook explaining that amongst the victims were people who had run towards the ruptured vehicle to collect the leaking fuel leaking.
Unverified images on social media show a large number of severely burnt victims lying on the streets as flames blaze through houses and shops nearby.
Aki Sawyerr said, “The video and photo footage making rounds on social media are harrowing”.
The mayor added that the extent of damage to nearby property was not yet determined and that the police and her deputy were at the scene to provide assistance to the disaster management officials.
The Head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Brima Bureh Sesay said in a video from the scene posted online, “We’ve got so many casualties, burned corpses”. “It’s a terrible, terrible accident.”
A journalist reporting from the scene Omar Fofana informed that dozens of people have been admitted at a number of hospitals. He added that health services have been stretched, and hospitals are “asking for everything that they need to be able to respond”.
Fofana said that a large number of people were sitting in heavy traffic at the time of the explosion. “Many of those who died, or were burned, were burned inside their vehicles,” he added.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was attending the United Nations climate talks in Scotland wrote on Twitter deploring the “horrendous loss of life”.
He added, “My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result”.
