Apiate Explosion: Death toll now 16

Correspondence from Western Region

The death toll of the Apiate explosion has increased to sixteen following the death of John Opare Christmas at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

The 27-year-old young man was a staff of Stellar Logistics and was travelling on the Bogoso-Wassa Akropong Highway on January 20 2022, when he was struck by the deadly explosion.

Christmas Opare had a fracture in his spinal cord rendering him paralyzed.

He had to sleep on his back for many months, which made his buttocks develop a “pilonidal cyst”, a medical term to describe big sore buttocks.

He had to change his sleeping position to his side, and that has also developed a sore at one of his hips up to the bone level.

He was rushed to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital on Monday, September 5, 2022, where doctors say he needs six pints of blood for survival.

The Apiate Disaster Relief Committee, together with Stellar Logistics and the family, worked in collaboration to save his life, but he finally gave up the ghost at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital last Friday, September 23 2022, after enduring pain for eight (8) months.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, the Public Relations Officer of the Apiate Disaster Relief Committee, Thywill Quarshie noted that “Opare was recovering after receiving six pints of blood, however, could not survive”.

“His condition improved drastically, even at the committee level, everybody was happy about the improvement, so between that time and just within one week, only God knows what He was doing. So, when I heard the sad news on Friday, I couldn’t talk about it”.

Meanwhile, another victim, Ama Nsowa, 63, who died on September 6 after a leg amputation at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, will be buried on Saturday, November 27 2022.

According to Thywill Quarshie, the rate at which victims are dying after they have been discharged is alarming, calling for a proper look into what might be causing that.

He, however, on behalf of the Apiate Disaster Relief Committee, expressed his condolence to the bereaved families.