Gas leakage caused Takoradi explosion

The multiple explosions in Takoradi on the morning of Tuesday May 9 which injured 25 people including five firefighters was caused by a gas leakage as workers of Ghana Home Utility Manufacturing Company attempted discharging fuel into a bottle, Assistant Chief Fire Officer for the Western Region, Obeng Dwamena Dankwa, has said.

“We are still investigating the fire but we know they were discharging gas into a bottle at the company. It is not a fuel station, it is a company premises situated between Effia Nkwanta Hospital and Poly junction…

The investigation has already started and the people who were discharging the gas will be able to tell us exactly what happened because definitely they were discharging fuel into an installed bottle over there…” he told Jonas Ofori Yeboah on 12Live on Class91.3FM on Tuesday, 9 May.

The injured persons receiving treatment at the Effia Nkwanta Hospital alone has risen to 65 as some passers-by who heard the explosion in the cause of running for their lives suffered various degrees of injuries.

The fire, according to Daniel Dadzie, a local reporter, started at the Ghana Home Utility Manufacturing Company at about 7:45am.

It spread to an Olam depot next door and then to a total filling station which caused a huge explosion hurting some people and five fire officers who were battling to quench the initial flame at Olam and Ghana Home Utility Manufacturing Company.

Some of the injured are also receiving treatment at the GHAPOHA Hospital and the Takoradi European Hospital. No death was recorded.