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How tanker explosion killed 99, injured over 100

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FREETOWN-About 99 persons were killed and over 100 injured in the capital of Sierra Leone on Friday evening when a fuel tanker exploded, during a collision, local authorities maintained.

Congress learnt that the accident took place in a busy street in the capital, Freetown.

Eyewitnesses narrated, “many people rushed to the tanker to siphon off petrol after the collision with containers. Shortly afterwards, the truck exploded.”

The sources said some surrounding shops and cars caught fire, as many burnt beyond recognition.

According to an hospital staff in the accident site about 80 bodies had been brought during the night on Saturday by rescue workers.

Meanwhile, a local television station estimate 400 victims on Saturday morning.

The country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, who was attending the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, is expected in Freetown shortly, a government spokesperson added.

The statement reads: “Due to the “tragic accident,” Bio had cancelled a planned trip to a meeting of the West African Economic Community, ECOWAS, in Ghana”.

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