More than a dozen Ebola patients are still unaccounted for after a violent attack on a Liberian Ebola treatment center Saturday, authorities say, raising fears that the virus will find a new stronghold in the country’s largest slum. Conflicting reports suggested that anywhere from 29 to 37 patients fled an isolation unit in the Liberian capital of Monrovia Saturday night when an angry mob descended upon the facility. But George Williams, the head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, has confirmed that, however many had initially escaped, authorities are still looking for 17.
The health center was in West Point, a Monrovia township of 50,000. The BBC reports that the attackers might have been angry that the patients came from other parts of the city. Witnesses claim that the mob then looted the facility, stealing medical equipment, food and blood-stained mattresses and sheets.
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