In one night, the slum in the community of Susan's Bay disappeared.
This district of the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown was "destroyed" by a fire Wednesday evening.
The municipal authorities, who have not yet reported on an assessment, however estimated that “thousands” of people had been “affected” by the disaster.
The flames burned the barracks made of sheet metal and salvaged materials located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, a stone's throw from the historic center of Freetown.
The European Union "is examining the means of providing emergency aid to the victims and will reflect with the authorities on the essential structural measures that will have to be taken to limit the risk of such disasters recurring", declared on Twitter the 'EU Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Tom Vens.
Despite a soil full of diamonds, Sierra Leone (7.5 million inhabitants) is one of the poorest countries on the planet.
Its economy, plagued by corruption, was devastated by a civil war (1991-2002) which left some 120,000 dead.
It remains fragile after the shocks of the Ebola epidemic which devastated it in 2014-2016, the fall in world commodity prices and the appearance of the coronavirus last year.