At least 99 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the capital of Sierra Leone late on Friday when a fuel tanker exploded following a collision, local authorities said.
Fuel still appeared to be leaking from the wrecked tanker on Saturday morning as police and soldiers tried to clear large crowds of onlookers from the street, according to a Reuters reporter.
A burnt human body and the blackened shells of several cars and motorbikes dotted the road in the eastern Freetown suburb of Wellington, where hundreds had gathered.
The death toll currently stands at 99 with more than 100 casualties being treated in hospitals and clinics across the capital, deputy health minister Amara Jambai told Reuters.
Victims included people who had flocked to collect fuel leaking from the ruptured vehicle, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the port city, said initially in a post on Facebook. “We’ve got so many casualties, burnt corpses,” said Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, in a video from the scene shared online.
“It’s a terrible, terrible accident.” Videos shared online shortly after the explosion showed people running through clouds of thick smoke as large fires lit up the night sky.