By Saio Marrah
The remains of victims in last Friday’s fuel tanker explosion at Wellington, have been laid to rest in a mass burial outside of Waterloo. Family members, relatives and senior government officials including President Julius Maada Bio, and Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh attended the inter-faith service that preceded the burial of 83 people who died in the accident.
The spokesperson for the Disaster Management Agency, Mohamed L. Bah said despite the state of the corpses, they will each be buried in separate graves with labels, so that relatives who would want to trace their loved ones can have the bodies exhumed for possible postmortems and DNA tests.
The burial took place on Monday 8 November, on the day three days of national mourning began for victims of the tragedy, as declared by President Bio in a nationwide broadcast.
In his keynote address at the burial site, President Bio described the event as a sad one for the country, that should serve as a lesson in preventing a similar occurrence in the future. He encouraged family members and loved ones to be courageous and have faith as they continue to pray for the departed souls.
As a nation, he urged not just to give a dignified burial to the deceased, but also to give support to those that are still in hospitals so that the medical teams can give them the comfort they need to survive.
He noted that accidents are unexpected occurrences but that some can be prevented. He also called for the nation to reflect on this incident in moving forward.
“We implore the medical team to give the injured enough comfort so that we don’t lose more people. As a country, we should always be united, especially in times of grief. This is not the time to blame people. This is a moment of reflection. I have said that we will investigate the disaster but also agree as a society what we do to avert similar tragedies,” he said.
He added: “What happened is preventable in a rule-based society. There should be law and order. We make laws to avoid catastrophes like these. This is a sad and solemn farewell event. Let me also use the occasion to thank all those who have helped with the situation and to announce that we have received support from WHO to effectively look after those in excruciating pains resulting from the burns,” he said.
He expressed gratitude for both the national and international supports in response to the disaster.
According of official report, the death toll stood at 100. Some family members decided to private burials for their loved ones that were identified.
Sheik Ibrahim Barrie at the ceremony, after offering prayer for the corpses, noted that Allah has said in the Holy Quran that he will try mankind in several ways like hunger, loss of properties and disasters.
He said Allah will give good rewards to those that have faith in him. He also called for consoling and support for family members of the deceased.
In his sermon during the ceremony, Bishop Arnold Temple noted that death is inevitable for all mankind, but the manner of death was sad. He prayed that such a disaster would not repeat itself again in the country.
Copyright © Politico Online 10/11/21
