Dozens of junior and senior secondary school girls drawn from across the Bo and beyond have on Thursday 2nd February 2023 sustained severe injuries caused by the drop of one of the metal railing guards at the stands of the Bo municipal stadium, reports streaming armature videos shared viral on social media.
The incident took place during the formal regional launching of the second phase of the distribution the First Lady Fatima Bio’s sanitary pads scheme for schoolgirls, at the city’s playing ground, few miles out of Bo.
An unnamed speaker in one of the shared videos said it is untrue that the Bo stadium collapsed, adding that the facility is intact. He said that it is wrong information that the whole stadium collapsed. He explained that one of the metal railings guards of stands which were occupied by some girls at the stadium gave way due to their weights, which caused them injuries.
Another clip also shared the new media showed scores of badly injured schoolgirls, mostly in the arms and on shoulders of so many men who rushed with them to nearby medical facilities for urgent attentions.
Other injured schoolgirls were also seen in one of the First Lady’s Sierra Leone Police white Landcruiser escort conveying them to hospitals for attentions.
Also shocked by the wave of the unfortunate incident, President Dr Julius Maada Bio on behalf of government and first family, last evening extended heartfelt and sincere condolences to the families of the children who sustained injuries in the unfortunate drop of the railing at the Bo stadium, during the distributions of sanitary pads to schoolgirls. My heart goes out to all those affected, he said.
The president informed that medics are working hard to administer urgent treatments to the injured. My team and I are monitoring the situation to ensure that everyone that needs medical attention receive it.
Speaking in a video posted on the official Facebook wall of the First Lady shortly after the incident, Mrs Fatima Bio said she was in Bo to launch the second phase of the free serenity pads distributions to schoolgirls in the city and beyond.
She added that she was not in Bo to harm anybody and that the thirty girls who unfortunately sustained injures when the metal railing gave way from one of the stands, are responding to medical treatments at Bo Government Hospital.
Refuting rumours laced with fake news that the facility collapsed and killed so many people, Mrs Bio said that the Bo stadium didn’t collapse at all and nobody died, as she is alive and the facility fully intact.
Dr David Moinina Sengeh, the line Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education is quoted in a twit saying: “Stop” downplaying the seriousness of the damage at the Bo mini stadium.
Office of the Press Secretary at State House said that affected children were immediately transported to the Bo Government Hospital
