Gas- station blast, floods kill Ghanaians
ACCRA, Ghana — A gas- station explosion and flooding in Ghana’s capital killed at least 150 people, the country’s president said Thursday night.
Wednesday night’s blast occurred after dozens of people sought shelter at the gas station and in nearby shops in central Accra to escape torrential rains. Flooding swept fuel being stored at the station into a nearby fire, triggering the explosion that also set ablaze neighboring buildings, officials said.
Before President John Dramani Mahama’s announcement, the death toll stood at 73. The president didn’t give a breakdown, but the new figure appeared to include people killed in the explosion, others who drowned at the blast site trying to escape the flames and more who drowned elsewhere in the city.
The West African nation will observe three days of mourning with flags flying at half- staff, and the government will allocate about $ 12 million for relief operations and to repair damaged infrastructure, Mahama said before heading into an emergency meeting.
TV footage earlier Thursday showed corpses being piled into the back of a pickup and charred bodies trapped with the debris. Floodwaters around the site hampered rescue and recovery efforts.
Officials at the nearby 37 Military Hospital said its morgue had reached capacity.
Mahama visited the blast site during the day, calling the death toll “catastrophic” and offering condolences to families of the victims.
“Steps will be taken to ensure that disastrous floods and their attendant deaths do not occur again,” he said.
Michael Plange, who lives a few blocks away from the site of the explosion, said many people had taken shelter from the rain under a shed at the gas station and were hit by the explosion.
The flooding “caused the diesel and petrol to flow away from the gas station and a fire from a nearby house led to the explosion,” said Billy Anaglate, spokesman for Ghana’s national fire service.
The government has faced criticism for its failure to improve the country’s infrastructure. Although the downpours this week have been especially bad, heavy rains in June are not unusual — yet drainage systems in Accra remain inadequate.
Mahama on Thursday pledged to fix sewage blockages, including by destroying homes near waterways to improve drainage.
The floods’ destruction has been “exacerbated by uncontrolled human settlement and activity,” he said. “We will take the tough measures necessary to prevent such disasters in the future.”
The area where the blast occurred is a heavily trafficked section of central Accra with several banks and other offices in addition to residences. Multiple bus terminals connect the area to the rest of the city.
The rains that lasted more than six hours Wednesday knocked over houses, pushed vehicles into overflowing ditches and knocked down trees and power lines.
Businesses ground to a halt as people were told to stay at home Thursday, and there was no electricity for at least 24 hours in most parts of the city. Accra already was grappling with an energy crisis and experiencing regular power failures.
With more downpours forecast to hit the city of 4 million people Thursday evening, residents were bracing themselves for fresh damage.
Laurence Kof i Kusi squeezed water from rolls of leather in his upholstery shop in Ghana’s capital while an employee scrubbed mud off a sewing machine. About 3 feet of water flooded Kusi’s business and submerged his equipment.
“I have only been here for seven months, but I will need to look for another shop,” Kusi said. “If this happens again, I will lose everything I have.”
Information for this article was contributed by Francis Kokutse of The Associated Press and by Pauline Bax and Ekow Dontoh of Bloomberg News.