Three huge explosions have rocked the centre of the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, killing at least 17 people, rescue and medical workers have said.
The fire service said they believed the blasts, which occurred in a shop off Free Street in the city centre, might have been caused by a gas leak.

The main hospital said it was struggling to cope with the wounded.

Many people are trapped inside the building, which has been badly damaged.

A BBC correspondent at the scene says human body parts litter the road outside.

Doctors struggling

Senior security sources told the BBC that the incident began when a fire broke out in a clothes shop in a narrow road running off the main street through central Freetown.

The fire brigade were attempting to extinguish the fire in the shop, which was located on the ground floor of a four-storey residential building, when there was a series of explosions, the sources said.

The deputy chief of the fire brigade, Ahmad Kamara-Bongay, said the explosions were probably caused by a gas leak which was ignited by the fire in the shop.

The blasts seriously damaged the fire engine which had been parked outside the building and killed at least 17 people, Mr Kamara-Bongay said. It is not yet known if any fire officers are among the dead.

The area was full of people buying clothes for the holiday season and many people are believed to be trapped beneath the remains of the badly damaged building.

The BBC's Mark Doyle says the shop is believed to have been owned, as are many retail outlets in Sierra Leone, by a member of the large resident Lebanese community.

Doctors at the main Connaught hospital are struggling to cope with the large number of casualties and previously closed wards have had to be opened.

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"A fanatic - one who won't change his mind, and can't change the subject." - Wiston Chuchill. "Diplomacy - Thinking twice before saying nothing." - Unknown. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle "The game of life is not so much in holding a good hand as playing a poor hand well." - H.T. Leslie

Meddeen I hope and pray your family back home is ok

Thanks for checking.
My family's OK. It was just gas explosion, although some peeps thought a new war had started.
The memories of war is still in people's thoughts.

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"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"A river does not run through a forest without bringing down trees".

ic

Just checking dude.Good to know that all is well with ur family.Stay blessed

Meddeen thank God ur family are ok. It was not a pretty sight to behold my brother.

Thanks bro.
I really appreciate it.

__________________
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"A river does not run through a forest without bringing down trees".

Mi sister, yu don troway me.
Bo nah so sister dey treat broda?

__________________
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"A river does not run through a forest without bringing down trees".

..run quick..run away from all dat wahala..come hide for my house..

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....Perception Is Everything....

Pa

could u be serious for one mister man?.... lol @ paj


Thank God meddeen is good to hear ya family are ok.


Could some one please check on ERINMA to see if she's ok?

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Ignore the B.S forget the dramas, chat your fun and be happies

Opinions are like a-*-* holes, everybody is entitled to one

Leave my sister alone.
Nah who tell you say ah nor get place to hide am if need be?

__________________
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"A river does not run through a forest without bringing down trees".

Thanks.
Is Erinma in Freetown?

__________________
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

"A river does not run through a forest without bringing down trees".

im not sure

__________________
Ignore the B.S forget the dramas, chat your fun and be happies

Opinions are like a-*-* holes, everybody is entitled to one

Me broda ah get mind troway u. Ah so busy these days that ah nor de spend too much time online. So how u de do? Ah bin feel say u de cam waka dis year o.

Nor mind Paj ya my broda. Paj which house u wan hide me?????????