TRAUMA ERUPTED residents of Lashibi in Tema, when a fuel tank exploded, killing a welding apprentice and injuring another in the process.
The deceased, Peter Boafo, 21-year-old junior apprentice died while one Kofi Ackaah, a 28-year-old senior apprentice sustained severe burns at his back and most part of his body when he attempted to weld a locker on a vehicle fuel tank.
The incident was said to have occurred at a welding shop near Shalom Spot, a popular Junction in Lashibi, when Kofi attempted to connect the unregistered articulated truck fuel tank with an electronic welding machine to fix a locker on the tank.
It exploded with fire which carried Boafo away to hit a motionless vehicle at the welding shop.
Kofi, the senior apprentice at the welding workshop was said to have been entangled by a wild inferno causing leaving burns on him.
The victims were both said to have been initially rushed to the Sakumono Hospital in Tema, with Boafo later consigned to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, where he was pronounced dead after surgeons tried effortlessly to save him. Kofi however, responded to treatment at the Sakumono Hospital.
Confirming the incident, Superintendent Alex Wowolo, Sakumono District Police Commander told DAILY GUIDE that the incident happened last Wednesday at about 5:45 pm when the deceased attempted to weld a locker on the fuel tank of the DAF articulated truck.
According to him, some of the exploded pieces of the fuel tank hit Boafo in the chest carrying him a distance away from the scene of the incident with Kofi caught by fire on his body, adding that investigations were underway to ascertain further needed information.
The Workshop proprietor, Mr. Isaac Banafo told DAILY GUIDE that the exploded fuel tank came with ‘serious fire’ which burned the senior apprentice at his back with the junior apprentice thrown away by the force which accompanied the explosion hitting him on the motionless vehicle.
The proprietor, who expressed shock about the incident, continued that they searched around the shop to discover the deceased under one of the parked vehicles after which they rushed him to the hospital.
“Some of the exploded tank pierced Boafo in his face and some part of his body and sustained burns on his body as well.” Mr. Banafo explained.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the workshop, working activity at the yard had come to a halt as some of the apprentices were yet to come to terms with the deadly incident.
They expressed shock and anxiety at the manner the incident occurred praying that it never occurred again.
