Whereabouts of 29 patients unknown after quarantine centre is attacked by men claiming "there's no Ebola in Liberia"

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Armed men claiming that "there's no Ebola" in Liberia raided a quarantine centre for the deadly disease in Monrovia overnight, prompting at least 20 patients infected with the deadly virus to flee, a witness said on Sunday.

"They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone," said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack and whose report was confirmed by residents and the head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams.

Williams said the unit housed 29 patients who were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital. It was unclear how many are now at large.

"They had all tested positive for Ebola," he said, adding that nine had died, without elaborating.

Wesseh said she heard the assailants shouting that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf "is broke", adding: "She wants money. There's no Ebola" in Liberia.

Wesseh said the mostly young men armed with clubs broke into the isolation unit set up in a highschool in a Monrovia suburb.

Nurses also fled the attack, Wesseh said.

The Ebola outbreak, the worst since the virus first appeared in 1976, has claimed 1,145 lives in five months, according to the World Health Organisation's latest figures. As at August 13 the total deaths were: 413 in Liberia, 380 in Guinea, 348 in Sierra Leone and four in Nigeria.