“Over 200 people died in the incident” Eye Witness
By Alpha Kamara in New York
A massive fire incident in Eastern Freetown has claimed the lives of hundreds of people. The incident occurred around PMB junction in the East of the capital Freetown. An eye witness Samuel Brown told AYV Television that a JET A1 fuel truck heading for the provinces collided with a passenger vehicle around 9 pm local time. “When the accident occurred, there was fuel leakage. People were rushing to steal fuel. In the process, we heard a loud explosion and everything went ablaze”, he said.
Brown added that within 1 and a half hours, over 200 corpses were brought to the Rokupa community hospital and more are been taken as at press time. Obey Sheezy another witness said on Facebook he counted over 100 corpses while he was trying to run away from the scene. The incident occurred around the time when people were returning home from work or from doing their businesses around the early night hours.
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Samuel Brown also said the accident claimed passengers, drivers, bike riders and petty traders’ selling around the area. “The long road traffic also increased the fire impact and loss of lives as there was no way for people trapped in the incident to escape”. A local fuel station at PMB was also burnt down. Another source told AYV Television that the community health facility has been overwhelmed by the number of corpses (burnt corpses).
Abdulai Koroma, a security officer at Sierra Leone’s main Connaught hospital said he cannot confirm the actual number of victims, but said they have taken over 50 corpses and were going back to the scene to retrieve more. Meanwhile local youths, community people and members of the forces were trying to collect the remains of dozens more from the incident spot to the hospital as most of them were burnt beyond recognition. The community is also calling on aid agencies to help in their own little ways. This is a developing story. If you have more on this story email ak7608@nyu.edu