An oil tanker has exploded in the capital of Sierra Leone killing at least 98 people and injuring dozens more.
The explosion took place late on Friday (November 5) when the tanker crashed into another vehicle as it was pulling into a petrol station near a busy intersection in Wellington, which s located just east of the capital of Freetown.
Officials and witnesses have claimed that large crowds gathered around the tanker to collect leaking fuel when the vehicle exploded.
It is not known what caused the fuel to ignite but a huge explosion soon followed.
Video footage seen by The Associated Press showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky as some survivors cried out.
Bodies of victims remained at the scene while awaiting transport to mortuaries.
Nearly 100 people were taken to hospital, and around 30 severely burned people at Connaught Hospital are not expected to survive, according to Foday Musa, a staff member in the intensive care unit.
Hundreds of people waited outside the main gates of the mortuary near the hospital's main entrance to find out what happened to their loved ones.
The hospitals have called in as many doctors and nurses as possible to help treat the wounded.
However, the country's healthcare sector is still recovering from the 2014-16 ebola epidemic which killed many doctors and nurses.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks on Saturday, offered his sympathies following “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.
Vice president Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals overnight and said Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency and others would “work tirelessly” in the wake of the emergency.
“We are all deeply saddened by this national tragedy, and it is indeed a difficult time for our country,” he said on his Facebook page.
