Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio on Sunday said the country must learn from the deaths of more than 100 people who were killed in a fuel tanker explosion in Freetown on Friday, reported CGTN Africa.
“We are going to concentrate on helping those who are critically injured right now,” Bio said.
He said the country must learn from the unfortunate incident as he re reiterated the government’s promise of providing free treatment for the injured.
“Let us come together and learn from this, let us say never again it will happen,” Sierra Leone’s president said.
The blast took place on Friday when a fuel tanker collided with another truck at a petrol station. The fire spread and burnt people in cars and on roads nearby leaving 108 people dead and 92 others injured.
According to eyewitnesses, the majority of the victims were street vendors and motorcyclists, many of whom were caught in the blaze while trying to retrieve fuel leaking from the tanker before it ignited.
Bio said on Sunday the authorities were working on plans to give a “dignified burial” to those killed in the accident. He also declared three days of national mourning from Monday to Wednesday. He said a presidential task force will be set up in the coming days to carry out a thorough investigation of the accident.
Sierra Lione’s Health Minister Austin Demby warned that “at the moment we don’t have enough medical supplies” to treat all the tanker blast victims.
The World Health Organization delivered 6.6 tonnes of medical supplies to Freetown which they said in a tweet, is enough to treat 600 burn victims.
In 2019, a tanker explosion in eastern Tanzania killed 85 people, while around 50 people were killed in a similar disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018.
