At least 10 people have been injured and one person confirmed dead as a results of gas explosion that rocked two fuel stations at Atomic Junction in Accra Saturday night.
A moving object from the explosion hit the deceased who was on top of the flyover at the Junction, causing him to fall to his death, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has announced.
Deputy Coordinator of NADMO, Abu Ramada, who has been at the scene since the explosion happened at about 7:00pm explained the injury to the 10 people were the results of chaos caused by the explosion.
At about 9:40pm, personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service have doused completely doused the fire, which started from a Total Fuel Filling station and spread to a Gas Filling Station adjacent the fuel station.
“What I can report now is we’ve reported 10 injured persons and that is not even as a result of the fire. It was as a result of chaos when the explosion happened; people trying to run away, cars trying to turn back. That is when we got people being knocked down,” Mr Abu told journalists.
Hundreds of residents at Atomic Junction, Madina and along the Teachers Hostel area fled their homes and work places as huge fireballs lit up the skies amid two explosions resulting in heatwaves in the area Saturday night.
[Video]: Explosion at Madina Atomic Junction. All commuters plying that route are advised to be cautious. #OnuaNews pic.twitter.com/YSq6tQN0r4
— Onua 95.1 FM (@onua951fm) October 7, 2017
READ: Atomic Junction gas explosion; PRESEC boys evacuated, houses burnt
Some commuters who had gotten to the area at the time of the explosion abandoned their vehicles and fled for their lives. Some people who were fleeing were said to have been knocked down by some speeding vehicles which were also trying to avoid being caught up in the razing fire in the aftermath of the explosions.
“One dead body found. As a result of the explosion one guy who was on top of the flyover, the explosion came with a lot of fire with it so the guy was hit by the explosion and he fell from the flyover and died. So that’s the only dead body we’ve recovered so far,” Mr Ramadan explained.
“The Fire has been brought under control. There is no more threat to human life any longer,” she assured residents who fled their homes due to the explosion but advised against people flocking the area, saying, “We will only advise people to stay away from the area”.
On claims that some charred bodies have retrieved from the explosion scene, Mr Ramadan said “that is not true,” but said Fire officials were yet to enter the mart at the Total Filling station to check if some people were trapped in there considering that the incident happened during working hours.
“What we fear now is we’ve not been able to access the shop inside the total filling station. This incident happened during working hours so we can’t confirm or deny whether some people were there when the incident happened,” he added.
Some government officials including the National Security Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah, and the Inspector General of Police have arrived at the scene to get first hand information on the explosion.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana