Pre-mix sellers, fish processors and petty business owners inside the Albert Bosomtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi have lost properties running into thousands of cedis after a landslide uprooted a high-tension electricity pole, sparking a fire that torched a pre-mix fuel dump, resulting in an explosion.
The hills overlooking the port had been compromised as a result of continuous rains in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and other parts of the region.
High voltage
The incident, which occurred last Sunday, was said by victims to have happened at about 4 p.m., when the green vegetation covering the hill slope near the pre-mix fuel dump collapsed.
The hill has high-tension electricity lines carrying high voltage, running above and covering the structures beneath it.
The nearby electricity pole, which was affected, collapsed with sparks of fire that quickly spread to the pre-mix fuel dump, resulting in a subsequent explosion.
The fire swiftly spread to other fuel tanks in the vicinity and others loaded in drums for the next fishing expeditions, triggering a major inferno which destroyed several facilities, makeshift stalls for fishing business, push-trucks and also completely destroyed two vehicles parked nearby.
Explaining what happened, the Fire Safety Officer at the Fishing Harbour, DCFO Jimmy Nab Daisie of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), said the service immediately triggered its measures to contain the situation with the support of other fire stations.
He said fire engines from the GNFS, Port of Takoradi and the Ghana Air Force came on time to help avert further damage to the fishing gears of the fishermen and its spread to other areas.
The DCFO Daisie said due to the fire powered by liquid fuel, the team had to battle the blaze for several hours before bringing it under control stressing that the display of professionalism and teamwork helped douse the fire.
Tour of affected area
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Nelson, and the Chairman of the Regional Security Council accompanied by the Omanhene of Essikado, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, and officials of the Port of Takoradi, toured the scene to assess the extent of damage and to interact with the affected persons.
Beyond the fire incident itself, the team observed that other portions of vegetation and weakened slopes overlooking sections of the fishing harbour posed a significant risk of further collapse and the need to ask those under it to move.
The regional minister then directed that all commercial activities in the area known as the food market and adjoining areas cease immediately, and that traders be fully evacuated from the affected zone as a precautionary measure.
He explained that, with the unannounced slide of the hill, the safety of those beneath it could not be guaranteed.
“We did not need to wait to see another disaster. Heavy clouds are still in the sky, and we are still in the rainy season; therefore, we do not need to be reactive. what happened is a wake-up call and we need to reassess the situation and put in place other safety measures.
For his part, the Director of the Port of Takoradi, Capt. James Richard Quayson, said the port management had on many occasions warned those under the pylon and those who had turned the foot of the hill into a trading post and distribution point for pre-mix fuel and other activities and said efforts would be made to evacuate them.
Unsuccessful attempts
“Our years of attempts to halt and relocate premix fuel activities from the current location were unsuccessful, the people resisted and today this is the result,” he said.
When the Daily Graphic visited the scene, fuel tanks and part of the Pre-Mix office were destroyed, rendering the structure weak.
Aside the parts of the port that were destroyed, other smaller businesses operating in containers and wooden structures, which were not affected, were yet to move voluntarily.
