At least 84 killed in fuel tanker explosion in Sierra Leone

FreeTown [Sierra Leone] : At least 84 people died on Friday after a fuel tanker exploded in a suburb of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, CNN reported citing authorities.

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.

“Authorities have transferred injured people to hospitals and collected the bodies, and the rescue effort at the scene has ended,” Bah said.

Meanwhile, 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 are harrowing,” Aki-Sawyerr said, 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.”