Ghana is presently in a cold room. The country has been affected with gas explosion that has claimed lives and landing many people in the hospital. Recently, a gas explosion in Ghana’s Western Region has left over 100 people hospitalized. The incident was confirmed to have happened on Tuesday morning during the discharge of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at the premises of a household utilities manufacturing company.
It has been reported that liquefied petroleum gas is dangerous when exposed for too long. It can also lead to explosion if serious precursion is not taken. The state-owned Daily Graphic reports that the injured persons who were all rushed to three medical facilities were responding to treatment. The injured included four firemen, three motor traffic officials and a newspaper vendor.
However, the explosion in Sekondi/Takoradi (capital of Ghana’s oil-rich region) was reportedly heard metres away and broke louvre blades in nearby houses and offices. It left everyone running helter skelter as lives were lost and people injured.
It was confirmed that the cause of the explosion was as a result of a leaking receptacle at the time the LPG was being discharged to giant receptacles although, authorities are yet to issue an official cause of the accident. Some eye witnesses explained that the operators were careless with their duty stating that ” why would they not have noticed a leakage on time before it got too late?”
The scene was a scary one as the affected gas receptacle split into two halves after the explosion which was immediately accompanied by a large fireball which resulted in the wide fire that claimed lives and properties. Some of the affected persons are presently responding to treatment in the hospital.
The oil company, Lambark Gas Limited, that was discharging the gas averted a much graver situation having alerted the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and police of the leakage. Authorities subsequently ordered nearby fuel and gas stations to switch off their pumps and to evacuate for safety reasons.
It was reported in December last year that a similar explosion in Ghana’s capital also claimed 9 lives whiles 12 other people sustained various degrees of injury. The cause of this should have helped in taking precursion against the present one.
Head of Ghana’s Petroleum Authority, Moses Asaga, later told the media that the explosion was caused by ‘irresponsible human error.’ It was also reported by an eye witness that it took more than seven fire engines to bring the blaze under control after over three hours.
As part of the human error, Mr. Asaga, explained that two bolts which should have tightened the lid on the gas tanker were missing. He further analysed that the pressure of the fully loaded gas tanker was forced out ‘like a missile’ causing the explosion. He was really disappointed with the carelessness of the operators stating that “lives should be held with more value”
The government of Ghana has urged its people to be calm with the situation. He promised to correct and effect the mistake that has led to the serious accident. He assured that such incident will not occur again.
