At least 99 people have been confirmed dead and several others injured after a fuel tanker exploded in the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown.
Gatekeepers News reports that the explosion occurred late on Friday after a vehicle collided with a tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.
Death toll stood at 99 as of Saturday afternoon with more than 100 people being treated in hospitals and clinics across the city, according to deputy health minister Amara Jambai.
Victims included people who had flocked to collect fuel leaking from the ruptured vehicle, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the port city, said in a post on Facebook.
“The video and photo footage making rounds on social media are harrowing,” Aki-Sawyerr said.
The mayor noted that the extent of damage to property was yet to be determined, adding that police and her deputy were at the scene to assist disaster management officials.
“We’ve got so many casualties, burned corpses,” said Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, in a video from the scene shared online. “It’s a terrible, terrible accident.”
Health services have been stretched, with hospitals “asking for everything that they need to be able to respond,” he added.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks, deplored the “horrendous loss of life”.
“My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result,” he wrote on Twitter.
