hundreds of people killed after tanker explosion

An apocalypse scene has hit downtown Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Friday, November 5, a tank truck exploded in a gas station, it had been hit by another heavy truck a few minutes earlier. Dozens of people rushed over to retrieve the fuel, before the vehicle exploded. “There are some bodies that we were unable to recover due to lack of access […]. There are more than 200 victims according to my estimates “, explains Jusu Jaka Yawmah, a rescuer.

The majority of the victims are street vendors or motorcyclists. Charred bodies are even found in the wrecks of burnt cars. Saturday, November 6, in the morning, the inhabitants came to the scene to look for relatives. “This is a national disaster. We are striving to give the injured the best possible treatment,” said Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, vice president of Sierra Leone. Similar incidents had already occurred in Tanzania in 2019 and in South Sudan in 2018.