Sierra Leone explosion – 92 dead after oil tanker collided with a truck and ‘crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel’

 AT least 92 people have died after an oil tanker collided with a truck and exploded as a crowd gathered to collect leaking fuel.

The explosion took place after the two vehicles hit each other in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

7

The fireball erupted as crowds gathered to collect leaking fuelCredit: Twitter / PRESIDENT JULIUS MAADA BIO/

7

People walking through the devastation as cars burnCredit: AP

7

The tanker and the bus after the blast in FreetownCredit: Reuters

Video shows a giant fireball burning in the night sky following the explosion, as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain.

Charred remains of the victims lay strewn at the scene awaiting transport to mortuaries.

A further 100 casualties have been admitted for treatment at hospitals and clinics across the capital, deputy health minister Amara Jambai told Reuters.

The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning.

About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to staff.

Victims included people who had flocked to collect fuel leaking from the ruptured vehicle, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the port city."We've got so many casualties, burnt corpses," said Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, in a video from the scene shared online.

"It's a terrible, terrible accident."

Images shared widely online showed several badly burned victims lying on the streets as fire blazed through shops and houses nearby.

President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks Saturday, deplored the horrendous loss of life.

“My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result,” he tweeted.

Accidents with tanker trucks in Africa have previously killed scores of people who gathered at the site to collect spilled fuel and were hit by secondary blasts.

In 2019, a tanker explosion in Tanzania killed 85 people.

Around 50 people were killed in a similar disaster in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018.

7

People gathered around the oil tanker trying to collect fuel

7

Charred vehicles in the aftermath of the explosionCredit: AFP

7

Firefighters at the scene of the tragedyCredit: AFP

7

The tanker and the truck before the explosionCredit: Reuters

More to follow...

For the latest news on this story keep checking back at Sun Online.

Thesun.co.uk is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.

Download our fantastic, new and improved free App for the best ever Sun Online experience. For iPhone click here, for Android click here. 

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesun and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.