Photo: Saidu BAH/AFP via Getty
A fuel tanker explosion in Freetown, Sierra Leone, has resulted in devastation for the capital city.
Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, noted in a Facebookvideofrom the scene that there were “so many casualties, burnt corpses,” adding: “It’s not a very good sight at all. It’s a terrible, terrible accident. I have never seen this before.”
Bah added that the rescue effort has ended as of Saturday. Meanwhile, crews worked to clear the street of burnt corpses and the smokey shells of cars and motorbikes left in the wake of the explosion.
Injured people were transported to hospitals around the capital city, where the health system has not recovered after the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016 killed 250 members of the city’s medical staff, Reuters reports. The city’s Connaught Hospital was overwhelmed with the influx of patients, rerouting many to other locations, including a military hospital.
President Julius Maada Bio commented on the tragedy Saturday, sharing a statement and a photo of the blast to Twitter, as he attended the United Nations climate talks in Scotland.
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Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr also said in astatementon Facebook, “I am deeply saddened to hear about an explosion along Bai Bureh Road, Wellington, after a bowser carrying fuel collided with another truck.”
“The video and photo footage making rounds on social media are harrowing. There are unconfirmed rumors that more than 100 people have lost their lives. The extent of damage to property is unknown,” Aki-Sawyerr wrote, adding: “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.”
source: people.com
