La explosion: Device looked like a pineapple – 9-year-old victim recounts

In an attempt to provide a vivid description of the object that ruined their play date at the beach, a nine-year-old victim of the La Tawala Beach explosion has said the device looked like a small “pineapple.”

The explosion which occurred along the shores of the sea on Wednesday, August 5 – Founders’ Day - sparked fear among residents in the area.

Revisiting the nerve-racking incident with GhanaWeb, nine-year-old Lartey Oko Adams said he, together with his siblings and friends went on their usual play dates along the beach and also to look for their father, who amongst other things, rears pigs along the shore.

The disappointment of not meeting their father led them to continue their usual games along the beach.

However, the sight of a device which looked like a pineapple toy caught their attention and caused them to halt in their steps.

“It looked like a pineapple,” he said.

In the words of Lartey, while they tried to figure out how to play with it his older brother removed a cap at the tip of the object.

“At that point” he narrated, “smoke started coming from it and threw it away, I ran fast from it together with the others but this one (pointing to his injured seven-year-old brother) was still standing there and it exploded.”

“There was barely any fire from it but a lot of smoke and it was loud. My brother fell down as a result and got hurt. Four of the children who were with me got injured including my brother,” he said.

Little Lartey said few moments after the explosion, residents began approaching the scene and with the help of his Uncle they sought medical attention for those who got injured.

His little sister, also sustained injuries on her hip, she, just like the others was hit by pellets from the explosion.

Having learnt his lesson, little Lartey told GhanaWeb that they have not gone back to the area after the incident.