The explosion of a tanker truck and the fire that followed on the outskirts of Freetown killed at least 115 people and seriously injured 91 others.
Le Monde with AFP
The Sierra-Leoneans have put in the ground, Monday, November 8, dozens of people killed in the explosion of a tank truck that made 115 dead, according to a new assessment, and pushed the health authorities to ask for ‘help from abroad to assist overwhelmed hospitals.
Thousands of people hurry along the road on the passage of 85 remains routed to a cemetery from the periphery of the capital.
Y have been buried in the past many victims of Ebola fever that struck West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and especially Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, has noted A correspondent of AFP.
The explosion of a tank truck percutrated Friday by another heavyweight at a petrol station in an industrial area of Freetown has made at least 115 deaths and 91 wounded, some very seriously affected, indicated the agency National Disaster Management in its last assessment.
The fire spread to the surrounding neighborhoods. According to witnesses, the majority of the victims are street vendors and motorcyclists trapped by the flames as they were trying to recover the fuel escaping from the rugged tank.
“We are here today to give a funeral worthy to our tragically dead compatriots,” said President Julius Maada Bio at the funeral. May God grant them his grace, but we will investigate to know the causes of the accident and to prevent it from happening again. “
“My family has lost three of his own in the explosion of the tank truck, said at the Cemetery Kadie Sesay, a close to victims. At least I am pleased that the government gave them a funeral.”
The authorities had left relatives who wished the freedom to bury their own dead. Before the funeral, thousands of mourning people had gathered at the morgue of the Connaught Hospital, the establishment where the greatest number of victims were admitted, to make their goodbye to their loved ones in a smell difficult to bearable and in the middle a major security device.
A proven country
The hospitals, they are overwhelmed by the influx of wounded and the lack of means. “We desperately need medical equipment for critical cases of burns,” AFP said Dr. Moses Batima, Deputy Director General of the Medical Supplies Agency at the Ministry of Health. “We need infusion liquids, medical consumables to abandon wounds, bandages and antidolutors,” he said.
Hospital services drew on their reserves and materials from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived on Monday at the airport, reported, adding that hospitals also enjoyed donations but that This was not enough: “We call for help the international community for medical equipment for the most serious cases.”
Hospital staff are “overwhelmed,” said Dr. Moses Batima, ensuring that “some intensive care employees have been working uninterrupted for three days.”
The names of victims directed to other hospitals have been published at the entrance of the Connaught Hospital to help their families locate them. “We will check the DNA of all corpses before the burial, in order to have records on all deceased,” said AFP Sinneh Kamara, a forensic services officer. The Bio President announced Sunday a three-day national mourning from Monday.
La Sierra Leone, a former British colony of 7.5 million inhabitants, is one of the poorest countries on the planet despite a floating soil of diamonds. His economy, gangrenée by corruption, was devastated by a civil war (1991-2002) which made some 120,000 dead. She still struggled to recover from the effects of Ebola when she was touched by COVID-19.