An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect the leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown. The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning.
Video obtained by the Associated Press of the explosion’s aftermath showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain. Charred remains of victims lay strewn at the scene awaiting transport to mortuaries.
Mohamed Lamrane Bah, director of communications for Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), told CNN that several people were also in critical condition following the explosion.
About 30 severely burned victims weren’t expected to survive, according to a staff member in the Connaught Hospital’s intensive care unit.
According to FOX News, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks Saturday, deplored the “horrendous loss of life.”
“My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result,” he tweeted.
Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said in a statement on Facebook that she was “saddened to hear about an explosion along Bai Bureh Road, Wellington, after a truck carrying fuel collided with another truck.”
“The video and photo footage making rounds on social media is harrowing,” Aki-Sawyerr added.
“My sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of the victims of the explosion. May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace.”
