Lagatar24 Desk
Freetown, Nov.6: An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing over 92 people and injuring a dozen more, according to officials and witnesses. Large crowds had gathered to collect leaking petroleum.
According to the Associated Press, the explosion occurred late at light on Friday after a bus collided with the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just east of Freetown.
By Saturday morning, the Connaught Hospital mortuary in Freetown had received 92 bodies. About 30 severely burned people were not expected to live, according to the hospital.
Following the explosion, video published on social media showed a massive fireball burning in the night sky, as several survivors with severe burns called out in distress.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks, 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 said in a tweet.
Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals shortly after receiving the information and stated that Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency and others would “work relentlessly” in the aftermath of the incident.
“We are all deeply saddened by this national tragedy, and it is indeed a difficult time for our country,” he said on his Facebook page.
