At least four killed in Sierra Leone fuel blaze

FREETOWN, Monday

At least four people were killed in a blaze in Sierra Leone on Sunday when fuel leaking from a broken pipe caught fire while residents tried to salvage it with jerry cans, fire and medical officials said.

The fire broke out at the Kissy Terminal in the east end of the West African country's capital Freetown, where fuel vessels deliver their cargoes ashore via pipes run along a jetty.

"We saw when the pipe burst and (we saw) people moving to the area with jerrycans. Many of them sustained wounds," Isatu Sesay, one of several hundred residents evacuated from their homes nearby, told Reuters.

Alusine Kamara, Freetown's deputy fire chief, said three bodies had been recovered from the scene and more people may have been killed.

Medical sources said separately that a policeman who was taken to hospital died from his injuries and 25 other people were being treated for burns, 11 of whom were in a critical condition.

Kamara said the fire broke out after police arrived at the scene to disperse hundreds of people trying to salvage fuel.

Police fired teargas to help disperse the crowds, but it was not clear whether the fuel was ignited by tear gas or in some other way, he said.

"We have been here promptly for over five hours battling to (bring) the fire under control ... One house was engulfed by fire but we brought the fire under control," Kamara said. (Reuters)