Thirteen nurses in Sierra Leone have been accused of neglect resulting in patient deaths, health officials said Wednesday, with unofficial sources putting the number of dead at up to 25.

Authorities said late Tuesday the deaths took place within a six week timeframe at two hospitals in the captial Freetwon.

They gave no official figures, but said that the dead included pregnant women and children.

The 13 nurses have been suspended from duty pending an investigation.

Some patients were said to have died as a result of uncontrolled bleeding after surgery, others fell off their beds or were not given their prescribed medications on time.

The deaths could be as high as 25 people repeatedly abandoned by the nurses during their night shifts, according to a doctor linked to a government panel formed to probe the affair, citing unoffical sources.

The scandal came to light during unannounced night trips by Deputy Health Minister Dawdis Kamara, who said, "I visited the hospitals several times and found no nurses in the various wards and patients uncared for.

"I have also asked that the salaries of the (suspended) nurses be withheld until the investigation concludes," Kamara added, but he would not be drawn on the number of deaths.

The west African country is struggling to recover from a bloody, decade-long civil war which ended in 2001.

The conflict left Sierra Leone's health care system in tatters, with less than one physician per 10,000 inhabitants, according to figures from the World Health Organisation.