Five more die in Kwahu Fodoa gas explosion
Five more victims of the gas explosion at Kwahu Fodoa are reported to have died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.
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According to the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mr Ernest Abban, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, out of the five, three were males, one female and a three-year-old girl.
He could not give details of the deceased but said eight of the victims were being treated at KATH.
The victims were among the 13 people who were admitted at KATH after they had sustained various degrees of injury following an accident involving a gas tanker.
Calamity befell Kwahu Fodoa, a farming community off the main Nkawkaw-Kumasi road, last Wednesday, when a five-month old baby was burnt to death, after a gas tanker crashed into a building situated by the roadside.
The body of the deceased, whose name was given as Yusif, was deposited at the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw.
Twenty-seven others sustained injuries and were sent to the same hospital and KATH for treatment.
The driver of the vehicle, who was said to have also sustained injuries, could, however, not be traced.
Although the tanker, with registration number GE 6376-13 and with the inscription ‘Kan Royal’, which was heading towards Kumasi, did not explode, volumes of the gas which leaked and spread in the direction of the wind caused an explosion in one of the houses which spread to 36 other houses, leading to the casualties.
According to the Kwahu West Municipal Fire Officer, Mr George Frempong, the incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m last Wednesday.
He said when the tanker, which was fully loaded with gas, crashed into the building, housing the New Faith Church International, firemen drawn from Mpraeso, Nkawkaw and Konongo were mobilised to seal the leakage on the tanker.
According to him, the firemen at the same time went round the community to warn the people not to set fire for some time, but suddenly there was an explosion in one of the houses killing the child.
He said the fire spread to a number of other houses, including three big sheds containing cola nuts being prepared for export, destroying the houses and the commodity.