The vehicle suffered a traffic accident and the deflagration trapped many drivers who had approached to collect the fuel spilled from the tank
Sierra Leone was still mobilized this Saturday night to attend to the victims of the explosion of a tanker that killed at least 98 people and injured 92 others in Freetown, the capital of the country. The events occurred late on Friday in an industrial zone, when the vehicle collided with another transport while on its way to supply a gas station.
Immediately, hundreds of people surrounded the cistern with bottles and buckets to collect the fuel that spilled through the cracks. The driver warned them to move away due to the imminent risk of an explosion, but no one paid any attention to him. The liquid ignited causing a huge fireball and a detonation whose shock wave destroyed homes and vehicles for hundreds of meters around it.
From the outset, the National Disaster Management Agency warned that the explosion had claimed the lives of many people. Most were street vendors and motorcyclists who had come in search of fuel, although emergency teams also discovered dozens of charred bodies inside cars and some homes.
In any case, the Government feared an increase in the death toll, since at least 88 wounded had very serious wounds and burns. Among them were children and women, who were taken to different hospitals in the capital.
Sierra Leone, home to 7.5 million people, is one of the poorest countries in the world. In a message posted on Twitter, the president, Julius Maada Bio, said he was deeply “moved by this tragic fire and the horrible loss of human life.” “I want to send my solidarity to the families who have lost loved ones,” he said, guaranteeing that his government “will do everything possible to support” the relatives of the victims.
Frequent accidents
These types of accidents are relatively frequent in Africa, where fuel is a scarce and not cheap commodity. Just four months ago, thirteen people were killed in Kenya when a “huge fireball” engulfed them as they tried to recover gasoline spilled on the ground by a tanker. The vehicle had overturned and was on fire, but this fact did not stop dozens of drivers from braving the flames to seize its contents.
It was precisely in Kenya that one of the most catastrophic accidents of this type also took place in 2009. More than a hundred citizens who carried out the same practice of obtaining fuel from a damaged tank perished in the explosion. In very similar circumstances, two hundred people lost their lives in South Sudan two years ago.
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