At least 98 people have died after a massive explosion when a fuel tanker collided with a lorry in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

Fuel spilled before igniting and the resulting inferno engulfed bystanders and vehicles at a busy junction.

Footage broadcast by local media outlets showed badly charred bodies in the streets surrounding the tanker.

After visiting the scene, Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said it was a "national disaster".

He said that the injured would receive free medical treatment.

Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr described seeing "harrowing" photos.

In pictures: Devastation after Freetown collision
Some 92 people are being treated in hospitals and health centres around Freetown, some of which are said to be overwhelmed.

The explosion is believed to have happened at a junction outside the busy Choithram Supermarket in the densely populated Wellington suburb in the east of the city at around 22:00 GMT on Friday.

Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said the vehicles collided when the tanker was entering a nearby filling station to discharge its fuel.

The drivers, noticing a leak, exited their the vehicles and warned people to stay away. The explosion occurred when people tried to collect the fuel, the NDMA said.

One report said a bus was completely burnt, while nearby shops and market stalls were caught up in the flames.

Brima Bureh Sesay, the head of Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency, said there were many "burnt corpses".

"It's a terrible, terrible accident," he told local media in a video shared from the scene.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1219 HRS, NOV 07, 2021
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