Scores of fuel station attendants, in Accra, have said they feel endangered working at the pumps following the June 3 flood related inferno at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, which claimed more than 150 lives.
In series of interviews with the Ghana News Agency, on Tuesday, some drivers also said they did not feel safe any time they visited the filling stations to refuel their vehicles.
“We are scared,” said Mr Ebenezer Asante, a Filling Station attendant at the Total Filling Station, near the Castle Junction at Osu. “The disaster has really affected us psychologically, and our operations too.
“But we’re not alone in this state of fear and panic,” he explained. “Our customers are also in the same state, so some of them now put undue pressure on us to hurry up when we’re serving them.
“Some even inquire if there are no fuel leakages anywhere on the premise before they will make a transaction.”
The GNA’s interviews were part of a survey at major lorry terminals and filling stations in Accra to find out the impact of the June 3, twin-tragedy on their businesses.
Mr Godwin Akwetey Quaye, a Filling Station Supervisor told the GNA, said: “Some customers and attendants exhibit extreme edginess anytime they are at a filling station and see dark clouds gathering, sometimes they hurry off even before being served.”
Another attendant at the Shell Filling Station, opposite the Chicken Republic, at Osu, noted that both private and commercial drivers exhibited signs of nervousness when they went to buy fuel.
However, the attendant said not all attendants and customers had been adversely affected because some believed that Circle incident was purely accidental.
Mr Opoku Agyeman, a Supervisor at Total Filling Station, Adabraka Branch, expressed concern about the attitude of customers who had been making provocative comments as the attendants were deliberately putting the lives of others at risk.
He said: “A man recently ordered me to hurry up and serve him before the station explodes, and shouted; ‘my wife is in the car and wouldn’t want to explode, hurry up and fill my tank!’”
However, at the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) Filling Station opposite the Trust Hospital, Mr Kofi Osei, said in spite of their concerns they had no options than to do their work and earn their keep.
He, therefore, appealed to patrons not to vent their frustrations on them as they were working in their interest too.
On Wednesday June 3, a GOIL Filling Station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle exploded following about seven hours of torrential rains, which hit Accra.
The Ghana National Fire Service’s preliminary investigations report indicate that fuel from the station travelled about 100 metres and got in contact with naked fire which led to the inferno.
