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Sierra Leone: Dozens dead in tank truck explosion

2021-11-06T11:07:07.653Z


"It's a terrible, terrible accident," says the head of Sierra Leone's civil protection agency: A tanker truck exploded in the city of Freetown. According to initial reports, at least 80 people died.


Enlarge image

A large group of people has gathered at the scene of the accident in Freetown and is looking at broken and charred vehicle parts

Photo: SAIDU BAH / AFP

Dozens of people were killed in a collision between a tanker truck and a truck in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The accident occurred on Friday evening in a busy street in the capital, Freetown. According to eyewitness reports, many people rushed to the tanker after the collision with containers to siphon off gasoline. Shortly afterwards the truck exploded. Some surrounding shops and cars caught fire, it said.

Employees of a hospital near the scene of the accident confirmed to the dpa news agency on Saturday that rescue workers had brought in 80 bodies during the night.

The local TV station AYV spoke of 400 victims on Saturday morning.

The government initially did not confirm the exact number of victims.

"We have so many victims, burned bodies," said the head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Brima Bureh Sesay.

"It's a terrible, terrible accident."

President Julius Maada Bio, who attended the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) on Friday, is expected in Freetown shortly, a government spokesman said.

Because of the "tragic accident" Bio canceled a planned trip to a meeting of the West African economic community Ecowas in Ghana.

hen / dpa / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-11-06

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