Coconut Groove Hotel, GN Bank, two TV stations on fire

The GN Bank owned by businessman cum politician Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has been caught up in fire as helpless fire personnel struggle to fight it.

TV3’s Selorm Amenyah who is at the scene gathered that the fire started from the Business Television Africa (BTA) before spreading to the bank and part of the Three Star Coconut Groove Regency Hotel which shared the same compound with the television station.

Another TV station owned by the Groupe Nduom, ATV (Amasan Televsion) close to the Ghana Immigration Service near the Ako Adjei Interchange in Accra has also been affected. Everybody has been evacuated from the premises as the fire still rages as at 6:30pm Saturday.

About 10 fire fighting engines have been deployed to the scene as they move in and out to refill to ensure that there is enough tenders to douse the fire, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Prince Billy Anaglatey told journalists.

He said the fire personnel have so far been able to protect other apartments and buildings to reduce impact of the outbreak as the fire threatens to spread.

Most of the structures are made of wood which explains how fast the fire was able to spread, Mr. Anaglatey observed.

It is too early to determine the cause of the fire, he said as at 7:00 pm when the place was still burning.

Terrible, Disappointment

A management member of one of the companies affected said the fire started around 4:00pm, but claimed the Ghana National Fire Service which is headquartered five minutes’ drive from the fire scene came unprepared.

Questioning the kind of training given to some personnel of the fire service, the man who would not give his name described the approach of the personnel to fight the inferno as “terrible”.

“I am disappointed,” he told Onua FM’s Kwaku Antwi-Otoo, noting that he had expected the personnel to confront the fire when they came to the scene, but rather decided to safeguard unaffected properties, which escalated the fire. But the fire personnel at the scene had insisted that they adopted the best practice in such situation.

The inferno was brought under control around 8:10pm without any casualty being recorded.