Shortly before, the Red Cross and hospital sources had reported that there were 80 deaths.
A nurse at the hospital where the victims were taken said he saw many men, women and children with “serious injuries,” according to the AFP news agency.
For their part, witnesses indicated that the tanker exploded at a service station after having suffered an accident, and that the fire spread through the area.
Several charred bodies were found inside cars and on nearby streets.
Most of the victims are street vendors and motorcyclists who were caught in the flames while trying to recover the fuel that was spilled after the accident with drums, according to witnesses.
The accident occurred around 8 p.m. on Friday (5 p.m. on Friday in Argentina) when the tanker wanted to refuel inside the service station.
“Suddenly a trailer hit the tanker and it exploded,” said a witness to the explosion.
The vice president of the African country affirmed that there are 88 people with very serious burns, admitted to intensive care units in a Freetown hospital.
In a message posted on the social network Twitter, the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, expressed being 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 and guaranteed that the Government “will do everything possible to support” the relatives of the victims.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, regretted not being able to go to the scene because she was on a work trip abroad and admitted that the images she had seen of the accident were “heartbreaking.”
Source From: Ambito
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