BOGOSO, Ghana
At least 17 people were killed and 59 injured Thursday January 20 in a devastating explosion in a western Ghana town after a truck carrying explosives intended for a mine collided with a motorcycle, the government said.
Footage
verified by AFP showed locals rushing towards a raging fire and rising plumes
of black smoke to inspect the damage, while rescue workers waded through the
rubble to find survivors caught in the devastation and retrieve lifeless
bodies.
"A
total of 17 people have unfortunately been confirmed dead, and 59 injured
people have been rescued," Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said
in a statement released overnight.
The
minister said initial signs point to "an accident involving a truck
transporting explosive materials for a mining company, a motorcycle and a third
vehicle" which took place near an electrical transformer.
Out
of 59 people injured, 42 are receiving treatment in hospitals or health centres
and "some are in critical condition", Nkrumah added.
Ghanaian
President Nana Akufo-Addo called it a "truly sad, unfortunate and tragic
incident" and expressed "deep condolences to the families of the
deceased".
Officials
and eyewitnesses described a scene of desolation against the sea of buildings
collapsed or impaired in the carnage.
"It's
a black Thursday. So far 500 houses have been affected. Some have been razed
down completely by the explosion while others have developed cracks,"
Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management
Organization, told AFP.
"It's
almost like a ghost town now."
Abena
Mintah, who witnessed the blast, told local media the driver of the truck
dropped down from his hatch, shouting at those nearby to warn them away from
the flaming vehicle.
"Within
a few minutes we heard a loud bang. I felt dizzy and fell in the bush. I
managed to get up and saw a few dismembered bodies on the street," Mintah
said.
The
government said those in critical condition would be moved to hospitals in
Accra and police asked surrounding villages to open their schools and churches
to accommodate any additional casualties.
A
team of police and army explosion experts were deployed to "avoid a second
explosion" and put in place security measures after the blast, the
government said in a press release.
Emergency
services were to give a casualty update on Friday at 11:00 am (1100 GMT).
Dr
Isaac Dasmani, chief executive of the Prestea Huni-Valley municipality where
the explosion occurred, told local media "the whole community is
gone" after the blast.
"All
of the roofs have been ripped off, some of the buildings have collapsed. Some
were in their rooms, and were trapped. Some of them unfortunately, before we
were able to rescue them, were already gone," he told Ghana's TV3
broadcaster.
Authorities
have created an access route to the scene and were working to open roads on
Friday to ease traffic around the blast site, he said.
Ghana
has been rocked by several deadly explosions caused by fuel accidents in recent
years.
In
2017, at least three people were killed and dozens injured after a tanker truck
carrying natural gas caught fire in Accra, triggering explosions at two fuel
stations and killing three people.
Ghana's
capital was the scene of a similar fire and explosion in June 2015, when more
than 150 people died as they sought shelter from seasonal rains and flooding at
a petrol station. The blaze was believed to have spread by fuel on the
floodwater.
Deadly
accidents linked to the mining sector are also frequent in Ghana, Africa's
second largest gold producer after South Africa, but they are mostly caused by
the collapse of mines, often illegal ones.
In
June, at least nine people died in the collapse of an illegal mine in northern
Ghana. - AFP
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