afrol News, 20 December - Fire fighters have so far recovered the bodies of at least 17 people who were killed as a result of three separate explosions in the centre of the capital Freetown.

The blasts also caused the hospitalisation of five other seriously injured people.

It is not clear what might have cause the explosion which happened in shop belonging to a Lebanese trader jammed with people busy buying second-hand clothing. Early reports said a gas leakage might have caused the blasts. Most Sierra Leoneans depend on gas cookers for cooking.

Hundreds of people could not hold back tears as they watched scattered human parts on the streets.

The blasts had blown off the doors of the ground floor of the four-storey building as well created several cracks on its walls, but the building has not collapsed.

The blasts erupted barely three months after President Ernest Bai Koroma took the mantle of leadership. His government promised to carry out a large-scale investigation into the cause of the explosions.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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