GHANA (Washington Insider Magazine) – According to police, at least 17 deaths were reported in an explosion in western Ghana on Thursday after one motorcycle collided with a van carrying explosives.
According to information from the bureaus and hospitals, approximately 17 individuals have died, said Isaac Dasmani, the municipal chief executive for the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly.
According to AFP, 59 individuals were injured as a result of the blast.
Apiate, a small village in western Ghana, appears to have been completely destroyed by the bomb. Nearly every building in the region had fallen, burying humans under rubble, as Kwadwo Bempah, who works in the vicinity and heard the explosion, told CNN.
The majority of the victims, according to police, have been recently rescued and are being treated at various clinics and hospitals. Their condition was not disclosed any further.
The police have seized command of the situation, providing security so that emergency responders such as the Ghana National Fire Service, NADMO, and the Ambulance Service can handle it.
While recovery efforts are continuing, the public has been encouraged to relocate to surrounding towns for their safety. Nearby towns have been asked to open classrooms, churches, and other facilities to shelter surviving victims.
Bempah claimed the local community acted as first responders in the aftermath of the tragedy, rescuing individuals and animals from fallen debris and sending the injured to health facilities before ambulances arrived.
According to Kwabena Owusu-Ampratwum, a publicity officer at Chirano Gold Mines, the explosives were getting transferred to a neighboring mine run by the firm.
In recent years, Ghana has had a succession of gas explosions, killing over 150 persons in the capital, Accra, in 2015. Hundreds of citizens were seeking refuge at a local gas station from intense rainfall when the explosion occurred.
According to local media, at least one individual was killed and the other was wounded in a gas-related accident in Accra in October.
In the very same month, three persons were killed in a fire in Ghana’s Ashanti region.
Image via BBC
