Hundreds of people were injured in the explosion, bolstering the capacity of Freetown’s healthcare, which has suffered from underfunding and a decline in medical staff during the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic.
Black balls of cars were still lying at the crash site, and members of a family whose business and home were burned down said they were sleeping outside.
“Since the incident we have not received any personal help, (a) place to sleep, food to eat, nothing like that,” said Wellington Bar & Beverage shop owner Mohd Lamin Manasarai.
Mansarai said he had asked people to run away from his bar just before the tanker exploded, but one employee died.
Similar accidents with tanker trucks have killed many people in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, including in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, when people gathered to collect spilled fuel and secondary were hit by explosions.
The victims of the blast were to be cremated in Freetown on Friday afternoon.
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