SIERRA LEONE: INNOCENT VICTIMS OF MASS POVERTY AND MASS IGNORANCE, MOST UNFORTUNATELY!
Tanker Truck Explodes in Sierra Leone, Killing at Least 98The truck first started leaking fuel and people had rushed to collect it, an official said. Many of them died in the blast, along with others nearby.
PHOTO: The site of the explosion in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Saturday.
The blast on Friday night also set fire to a gas station.
Credit…Saidu Bah/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBy Jaime Yaya Barry and Ruth Maclean
Nov. 6, 2021Updated 1:43 p.m. ET
At least 98 people were killed when a tanker truck exploded on Friday night after a crash in the capital of Sierra Leone.
Many of the victims were motorcycle riders and taxi drivers who had been trying to collect leaked fuel at the time of the blast, in the Wellington area of the capital, Freetown, according to an official from the country’s disaster management agency. A witness to the explosion’s aftermath said it had also killed people nearby outside buildings and in vehicles.
The death toll may rise, the official, Mohamed Lamrana Bah, said, because more people were taken to hospitals in critical condition, though he could not specify a number.The West African country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, said on Twitter that he was “deeply disturbed” by what had happened and promised government support for the families affected.
He and the mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, cut short their trip to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit and were on their way home on Saturday afternoon.
Deeply disturbed by the tragic fires and the horrendous loss of life around the Wellington PMB area. My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result. My Government will do everything to support affected families.
pic.twitter.com/xJRA1UtCJJ— President Julius Maada Bio (@PresidentBio) November 6, 2021Sierra Leone’s vice president, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, asked those who had taken fuel to return it, in case it exploded in their homes.
The tanker truck is thought to have been attempting a U-turn about 10 p.m. when it collided with a truck carrying sand, Mr. Bah said. The tanker truck then began leaking fuel.
“Bike riders, taxi drivers and people around the neighborhood rushed to the scene to collect the leaking fuel, and in the process, the tanker exploded,” he said in an interview on Saturday morning.
Mr. Bah, who is the communications director of Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency, said that one house and the tires of the sand truck were still burning, and that his agency and others were trying to clear the area
In one video of the aftermath, a man walked gingerly away from the site of the explosion, a few rags — all that was left of his clothes — hanging from his badly burned skin. He appeared to have been among those who tried to collect fuel.“Satan called me. Let us pray. There is no other god but Allah. Let us pray,” he repeated to himself as he walked.
In another video circulated on WhatsApp, survivors of the explosion lay on the floor, tried to sit up, or moved about groaning in a room of Freetown’s King Harman Road Satellite Hospital. Staff members tended to them and handed out sachets of drinking water.
The explosion also set fire to a nearby gas station, Mr. Bah said.A student who lives nearby said he had heard the blast and felt its felt its heat in his home, and then rushed to the scene.“We removed our shirts and wrapped our hands to lift bodies from the burning scene and took them to a safe place,” said the student, Abdul Waheed Kamara, 26.
“I personally rescued 16 people, the last of them was a woman. Me and another man helped her to a safe area. She was still alive but badly burnt.”He said he had counted more than 100 bodies, and that the fire service had arrived about 30 minutes after the explosion. There were no soldiers there, and police officers were standing well back from the fire, he said.Among the dead, according to Mr. Kamara: a child wearing a backpack, people who were asleep in a nearby garage and parking lot, shopkeepers who tried to salvage their goods and got caught in the fire, and all the passengers of a minibus that was hit by the force of the explosion.“I can still see the scene of the woman I rescued, and I can’t get the images off my head,” he said. “I won’t be able to see that place the same again.”
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Murtala Mohamed Kamara
And the next few days and weeks; they will issue press releases sympathizing with the family of the victims, they will probably declare a day or two of National mourning.
Government officials, NGO’s, Corporate bodies will visit this area, make speeches, donate rice and other condiments to the families of the victims, pose for photos and promise them further assistance and that’s the end, we wait for another disaster to strike again?
Are our disaster management bodies better equipped today? Is the fire service unit better equipped? How much public education has been done on the dangers of petrol? How can we minimise the death toll in disasters like these?
Osman Benk Sankoh
21h · Just from Ground Zero- The scene of last night’s fuel tanker inferno at Wellington SLPMB Junction. The sight was unrecognizable. Blackened tarmac and sidewalk. The carcasses of burnt vehicles. Few stores in ruins. Pale faces and utter sign of resignation from people who seem to be asking what have we done to deserve this?The numbers may keep sweeling up. It may take some time for the full effect of the calamity to dawn on us.And yes, messages of condolences may dominate the space. A period of national mourning may be declared. The flag may be ordered to be flown at half staff at State House and other public buildings. The charred remains may even get a civic funeral with the deceased families each receiving probably two bags of rice plus 500, 000 Le. But how do we address the very reasons that lead to a disaster waiting to happen is the challenge.For now, Wellington is in tears and my eyes are pregnant with water , crying for the loss of ” me area man n woman dem”.
Umaru Fofana
22h · Greetings from Freetown’s central mortuary,
I’ve been unwell for most of the week. Only felt a lot better last night. So I thought I could spend time with my family this weekend after a few Saturdays and Sundays away. But that was not to be. Duty called. The kind of duty I feel reluctant to do but have to do, called.
As you know there was a huge explosion last night involving a fuel tanker and a truck that rammed into it in the eastern suburb of Wellington. As a sign of the poverty level in my country, instead of fleeing the area, young men – and some women – dashed to scoop the leaking petrol if only to make ends meet.
I have visited the scene where eyewitnesses told me of how some of the young men and women made several trips sometimes with open containers carting the fuel away and storing it in unsafe conditions and returning for more. I’m told it went on for between 20 and 30 minutes causing a massive vehicular traffic in this the main artery into and out of the Sierra Leone capital. It’s not clear what exactly led to it but an explosion later ensued. The fireballs spread like fireworks and engulfed the area.
Many of the 99 men and women, young and old, whose charred bodies have been brought to the mortuary right now were killed either as they busied themselves scooping the fuel, got trapped in their vehicles in traffic or were traders in the nearby area selling foodstuff as part of the daily struggle. Just outside the mortuary here are hundreds of distraught relatives waiting to identify their loved ones from among the bodies. It’s a horrifying scene!! A scene I had hoped I’d never see again, after the infamous mudslide of August 2017 when I came here and saw hundreds of mangled bodies again lined up for identification.
The mortuary attendants work under some of the most difficult conditions. Hardly regarded by society with some of them not even recognized by the state as workers, yet they seem very passionate about doing this day in day out. We are a society that celebrates thieves and demonizes real heroes. High as it is, the death toll could have been a lot higher. If it had happened just a few meters at the junction proper of PMB which has many shops and commuters waiting for transport. But it could also have been avoided, if only poverty hadn’t been so engrained and taken over the intelligence of those who felt they had to scoop a flammable liquid, or if better attention was being paid to the roadworthiness of especially some of the trucks that ply our routes.
Like we did when the same mortuary became a feeding ground for vultures in 1999, like we did during the mudslide of 2017, like we did during Ebola between 2014/2015 or the numerous cholera outbreaks, we show outrage and let it peter out.
The authorities promise or pretend to take action but they move on until the next disaster strikes. Some of the responders through the night had to use plastic bags as gloves to collect bodies.
The brilliant idea of establishing a separate agency to deal with disasters is only on paper. They are without funds to respond to even a minor fire incident in a shanty town let alone something like this. We are what we are, because we are what we are. Rest In Peace my compatriots.
