A huge tanker explosion near a gas station in Ghana’s capital, Accra, which killed at least seven people and injured scores has sparked an outpouring of sadness and anger in the country.
The blaze and blasts gutted a liquefied gas filling station and a nearby petrol station in the Atomic Junction area of the Legon suburb of Accra on Saturday night, sending a giant fireball into the sky and local residents fleeing.
The head of the Ghana Standards Authority, Alex Dodoo, on Sunday said there had been eight gas explosions in four years, including in June 2015, when a similar fire and explosion at a petrol station in Accra killed more than 100 people.
In December last year, a gas tanker caught fire in another residential area of Accra, creating a fireball that caused five deaths and damaged a nearby school.
“This is a time for concrete action,” Dodoo was quoted as saying by Citi FM radio after Saturday’s incident. “Fixing it and making sure that it doesn’t happen again is a responsible thing to do.”
‘Back and forth’
President Nana Akufo-Addo took to Twitter to offer his condolences, and said his “government is resolved, now more than ever, to ensure such an incident does not occur again”.
