Gas explosion rocks Accra, causing fatalities
Authorities in Ghana said at least seven people have died and dozens were injured after an explosion at a gas station in a suburb of the capital, Accra.
Ghana’s Information Ministry said Sunday that 68 people were hospitalized following the accident and dozens of others were treated and released, AP reported.
Dramatic video of the explosion late Saturday posted on social media showed a blazing mushroom cloud.
The explosion at around 7:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT) began at a state-owned GOIL liquefied natural gas station and spread to a Total petrol station across the street at the city’s Atomic Junction, a Reuters witness said.
The cause of the explosions is being investigated.
Frightened residents ran from the explosion, which sent a giant fireball high into the sky above the city, and several fire trucks and ambulances were deployed to the scene.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia visited the site early Sunday where he said that gas explosions have “become one too many.” He cited eight explosions over the past three years in the West African country.
An explosion at a petrol station in Accra in 2015 killed around 100 who had sought shelter nearby from flooding in the country’s worst disaster in more than a decade.
Infrastructure in Accra, a city of roughly 7 million people, has failed to keep pace with population growth after years of rapid economic expansion. A small unit on a tower building at Ghana’s Parliament also caught fire in July, although the blaze did not cause major damage.