Fatal gas explosion in Ghana

  • 08/10/2017
A natural gas station in Ghana's capital Accra has exploded, killing an unknown number of people.
A natural gas station in Ghana's capital Accra has exploded, killing an unknown number of people. Photo credit: Getty

A natural gas station in Ghana's capital Accra has exploded, killing an unknown number of people.

"Unfortunately there are some fatalities and we are working to have the numbers," Deputy Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told a local radio station on Saturday. "There are quite a number also injured."

He added that the main blaze was largely under control and that the government planned to release casualty figures on Sunday morning.

Several eyewitnesses told Reuters they had counted four or five bodies, although some bodies could have already been removed from the scene.

The explosion at around 7:30pm local time 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.

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.

Reuters