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 The burnt supermarket at the filling station. Pictures: Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
The burnt supermarket at the filling station. Pictures: Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori

Two die in Dome fire outbreak

Two persons died when a fire outbreak occurred at the Maxxon Fuel Station Supermarket at Dome in Accra in the early hours of yesterday.

The names of the victims have been given as Magdalene Mensah, 24, and Richard Asante, 19, both employees of Maxxon Fuel Station.

They were asleep in one of the rooms of the supermarket when the incident occurred.

Another employee, identified as Felix Quaye, 26, who was also sleeping in another room, however, survived after managing to jump through a window.

Almost all the items in the supermarket were burnt to ashes.

Personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) are said to have responded to a distress call to put out the fire 30 minutes after they had arrived at the scene.

The GNFS is yet to confirm the cause of the fire, but it is believed to have started from a fridge at the supermarket.  

Survivor

Quaye, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said when they closed from work at 1 a.m., they switched off all electrical appliances at the supermarket, excluding the fridge and the fans, before going to sleep. 

According to him, about 2:30 a.m., the sound of exploding bottles woke him up.

He said when he came out of the room where he was sleeping, he realised that the place was on fire, for which reason he broke one of the windows and jumped through it.

He said he heard his colleague workers crying for help but before people came around to assist, they had been burnt beyond recognition.

 Manager of the station

The General Manager of the fuel station, Mr Hornsey Odoi, said immediately he was informed about the incident around 3 a.m. yesterday, he called the GNFS for help.

He said even though the service responded immediately, it could not save the lives of the two employees.

 District GNFS Commander

The Commander of the Kwabenya District Office of the GNFS, Superintendent Bright Boafo, said the fire outbreak was reported to the station officers and they went to the scene of the fire. 

He said they put out the fire within 30 minutes of their arrival.

The charred bodies of the dead persons have been deposited at the Police Hospital in Accra.

 

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