Explosion Killed More Than 90 After Freetown Oil Tanker Collision

 At least 98 people have died after a massive explosion when a fuel tanker collided with a lorry in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

Footage broadcast by local media outlets showed badly charred bodies in the streets surrounding the tanker.

Fuel spilled before igniting, engulfed bystanders and vehicles at a busy junction. 

According to reports, motorbike-taxi riders nearby, others started collecting the leaking fuel from crashed tanker causing a traffic jam. Shortly after, there was an explosion as crowds gathered.

The fireballs spread into the surrounding area and onto the vehicles caught in the traffic. Many of those killed were trapped in their vehicle.

The incident is believed to have happened at a junction outside the busy Choithram Supermarket in the densely populated Wellington suburb in the east of the city at around 22:00 GMT on Friday.

After visiting the scene, Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said it was a "national disaster".

He said that the injured would receive free medical treatment.

Some 92 people are being treated in hospitals and health centres around Freetown, some of which are said to be overwhelmed.

Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said the vehicles collided when the tanker was entering a nearby filling station to discharge its fuel.

The drivers, noticing a leak, exited their the vehicles and warned people to stay away. The explosion occurred when people tried to collect the fuel, the NDMA said.

One report said a bus was completely burnt, while nearby shops and market stalls were caught up in the flames.

Brima Bureh Sesay, the head of Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency, said there were many "burnt corpses".

"It's a terrible, terrible accident," he told local media in a video shared from the scene.

The authorities say most of the dead have now been received at the central morgue in Freetown, with the critically injured admitted to hospitals across the city. The army, police and fire force are all at the scene.

The port city of Freetown, which is home to just over a million people, has faced several serious disasters in recent years.

In March, more than 80 people were injured after a major fire in one of the city's slums left more than 5,000 people displaced.

And in 2017 over 1,000 people were killed after heavy rains led to a mudslide that swept through the city, leaving around 3,000 people homeless.