A major fire broke out Sunday night at a large fuel depot in the commune of Kaloum, the Guinean capital of Conakry, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 170 others, said Oumar Diouhe Bah, minister of health and hygiene, in a statement Monday.
According to the minister, the bodies of the victims, as well as the majority of the injured, were received at Conakry’s two main hospitals, the Donka National Hospital and the Ignace Deen Hospital.
He stated that medical teams were deployed on-site to assist in emergencies while assuring that hospital care for the injured and other victims was completely free.
He claimed that before 6 a.m. local time on Monday, 89 of the 170 injured people who had been admitted to the hospitals had been released.
The official stated that the fire is almost under control and that things appear to be under control at the moment.
Prior to the first responders arriving on the scene of the raging oil depot fire, the interim government had ordered all non-essential workers to remain at home.
“Workers in the public and private sectors, except the defence and security forces and the medical profession, are invited to stay at home. Public and private schools will be closed, and service stations will be closed, except for health services,” the transitional government announced in a press release.
“We invite the populations of the neighbouring areas to move away from the site, not only for their own safety but also to allow the services to operate in complete safety.”
The transitional president, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, asked the people of Guinea on Monday to show solidarity and pray for the country following the outbreak of the fuel depot fire.
Mamadi Doumbouya conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims as well as the people of Guinea and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
“While awaiting the investigations carried out by the government to find out the exact causes of the fire as well as the human and material toll of this tragedy, I call on the people of Guinea to show solidarity and prayer for the country in these moments of hard trial,” he said on his Facebook page.
He reassured that all victims and people impacted will be immediately and fully supported by the state.
