Daily US Times: A massive explosion has killed at least 99 people in Sierra Leone. The explosion occurred when a fuel tanker collided with a lorry in the country’s capital, Freetown.
Oil spilled before igniting and the resulting inferno engulfed bystanders and vehicles at a busy junction.
Local media broadcast footage showed badly charred bodies in the streets surrounding the tanker.
Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone said he was “deeply disturbed by the tragic fires and the horrendous loss of life”.
He said in a Tweet that his government would do “everything to support the affected families”.
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the mayor of Freetown, described seeing “harrowing” photos and said there were “rumours that more than 100 people have lost their lives”.
Some 100 people are being treated in hospitals and health centres around Freetown and the state-run morgue is reported to have received more than 90 bodies.
The explosion is believed to have happened at around 22:00 GMT on Friday at a junction outside the busy Choithram Supermarket in the densely populated Wellington suburb in the east of the city.
A bus full of people was completely burnt, local media reports, while nearby shops and market stalls were caught up in the flames.
Brima Bureh Sesay, the head of the country’s National Disaster Management Agency, told local media he had never seen anything like it.
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