Ninety-one folks had been killed and over 100 wounded within the capital of Sierra Leone when a gas tanker exploded following a collision, the central morgue and native authorities stated.
The federal government has not but confirmed the demise toll, however the supervisor of the central state morgue in Freetown stated it had obtained 91 our bodies following the explosion.
An extra 100 casualties have been admitted for therapy at hospitals and clinics throughout the capital, deputy well being minister Amara Jambai instructed Reuters.
Victims included individuals who had flocked to gather gas leaking from the ruptured car, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the port metropolis, stated initially in a put up on Fb that was later edited to take away the reference.
“We’ve received so many casualties, burnt corpses,” stated Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Company, in a video from the scene shared on-line. “It’s a horrible, horrible accident.”
Pictures shared extensively on-line confirmed a number of badly burned victims mendacity on the streets as fireplace blazed by way of retailers and homes close by. Reuters was not ready instantly to confirm the pictures.
Accidents with tanker vans in Sub-Saharan Africa have beforehand killed scores of people that gathered on the web site to gather spilled gas and had been hit by secondary blasts.
In 2019, a tanker explosion in jap Tanzania killed 85 folks, whereas round 50 folks had been killed in an identical catastrophe in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018.
The mayor stated that the extent of the harm in Freetown was not but clear, including that police and her deputy had been on the scene to help catastrophe administration officers.
“My profound sympathies with households who’ve misplaced family members and those that have been maimed consequently,” President Julius Maada Bio tweeted.
“My Authorities will do the whole lot to help affected households.”
REUTERS