Oil tanker explodes in Sierra Leone, killing at least 92
Freetown (Sierra Leone)(AP): An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone's capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.
The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning. About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to staff member Foday Musa.
Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them Saturday.
Video obtained by The Associated Press of the explosion's aftermath showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain. Charred remains of the victims lay strewn at the scene awaiting transport to mortuaries.
President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks Saturday, deplored the 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.
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Congress protests at Utkal Bhavan over killing of Bengali migrant worker in Odisha
Kolkata (PTI): The Congress on Tuesday staged a protest in front of Utkal Bhavan here against the killing of a migrant worker from Murshidabad district in Odisha, alleging a growing pattern of violence against Bengali-speaking workers across several states.
The demonstration was led by Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, who said the latest incident in Odisha, where a young man from Murshidabad was allegedly beaten to death, reflected an alarming trend of harassment and attacks on Bengali migrant workers.
Chakraborty claimed that workers from West Bengal were being targeted and "tortured" in states such as Odisha, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, often merely for speaking the Bengali language.
"The workers are forced to leave their homes because there is no livelihood, no jobs, in their areas. When they go outside the state to earn a living, they are attacked for their identity," Chakraborty told reporters during the protest.
Demanding immediate government intervention, the Congress leader said the safety of migrant workers must be ensured through institutional measures. He urged the government to issue official identity cards to all migrant workers at the earliest.
"These identity cards should clearly mention the worker's home district, the local police station and the contact number of a police officer so that they can seek immediate help while working outside the state," he said.
The Congress leader said that such incidents would continue unless concrete steps were taken to protect migrant workers.
A 30-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly killed in Odisha's Sambalpur district following an altercation over a bidi recently, police said.
Juel Sheikh was working, along with a few others from West Bengal, in the construction of a building in Shanti Nagar in the Ainthapalli police station area.
They were returning from work when a group of six men stopped them and asked for a bidi. An altercation broke out, leading to a scuffle between the two sides, police said.
Juel was thrashed severely, and he died while undergoing treatment at the Sambalpur hospital. The six accused persons have been arrested by the police.
West Bengal's ruling TMC claimed that Juel was beaten to death over suspicion that he was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.
