In the early hours of Saturday, 92 remains had been taken into the Connaught Hospital mortuary. According to Foday Musa, a staff member in the intensive care unit, some 30 badly burnt individuals were not expected to live.
Injured victims whose clothing had burnt off in the fire that erupted after the explosion sat nude on stretchers while nurses ministered to them on Saturday. Hundreds of people gathered outside the mortuary’s main gates and near the hospital’s main entrance, hoping to hear from their loved ones.
Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals overnight, promising that Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency and others will “work relentlessly” in the aftermath of the disaster.
He also visited the scene an convey the government’s condolences and asked individuals who were stockpiling gasoline to dispose of it in order to avoid another calamity.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland for the United Nations climate negotiations on Saturday, lamented the “terrible loss of life.”
“My heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost loved ones and those who have been injured as a consequence,” he tweeted.
On Saturday evening, President Bio visited Connaught hospital conveyed his sympathies for the deaths of more than 100 people in a fuel truck explosion in the capital, Freetown.
“I am very troubled by the horrific fires and tragic loss of life in the Wellington PMB region. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families who have lost loved ones and those who have been injured as a result “Bio said.
