Eight young players have been killed and over a dozen wounded on Sunday when a minivan collided with a truck loaded with timber along Makoth and Makarie highway, sources at the Makeni Regional Hospital said Monday.
Sources at the hospital said some of the injured have been referred to the Emergency Surgical Centre in Freetown.
The North-East Region Football Association (NERFA) has also confirmed the death of the players. The young players were returning to Makeni after a community league at Batkanu when the accident occurred.
North-East Region Football Association expressed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
Road crashes are common in Sierra Leone. There are 2,763 road crashes in 2020, with 867 deaths, according to statistics from the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA).
Among the deaths, 501 are men, 334 women and 32 children. About 770 people suffered seriously injury.
By Desmond Tunde Coker
02/03/2021. ISSUE NO: 8012