Cigarette smoker in BNI grips for causing Goil fire

The committee set up by government to investigate the June 3rd flood and fire disasters at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle has found one Seth Kwesi Ofosu as the cause of the fire.

The committee is convinced that a lit cigarette smoked by Mr Ofosu sparked the fire; however the committee is not clear whether the action by the suspect was intentional.

The gentleman was reported to have been smoking during the rainstorm and then dropped the cigarette without completely putting it out. Then the naked fire coming into contact with the water mixed with leaked fuel from the Goil station sparked the fire killing over 150 people in the process.

Government set up a committee to look into the disaster that got the entire nation grieving over the death of the innocent lives.

The committee at a news conference to present its findings stated that the “flooding of Kwame Nkrumah was the remote cause of the fire.”

“The displacement of fuel from the Goil Filling Station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle was the intermediate cause.”

“The dropping of the lit cigarette stub by Seth Kwesi Ofosu onto the floating fuel was the ultimate or immediate cause of the fire” the committee report averred.

Chairman of the committee Mr Justice Isaac Delali Douse noted “we are not in the position to determine his [Ofosu] actual status so we have handed him to the security agencies to investigate and arrive at a conclusion whether or not he intentionally caused arson.

“…Whether he was aware there was fuel on top of the flood waters or not is not clear to us so we have asked the security agencies to investigate properly and come to a conclusion on that matter”.

Mr Ofosu is reportedly assisting in investigations.

The report noted that 154 people died with the same number of people sustaining varying degrees of injuries.

“Five houses including the Goil Filling Station suffered various degrees of damage as a result of the fire.”

The properties are valued at 1,658,847.00.

Furthermore the committee is recommending dredging and desilting of the Odaw River and its tributaries as well as creation of a sanitation police force.