Two kids die in tanker explosion in Kumasi
Fire from a fuel tanker last Sunday night burnt two young siblings beyond recognition and destroyed 10 container stores at Anloga-Agric Kokode, near Kwadaso in Kumasi.
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The deceased have been identified as Michael Owusu Yeboah, eight, and Raymond Owusu Yeboah, six.
The incident occurred at a fuel filling station at Kokode sited right under a high tension electricity cable.
On hearing of the outbreak of the fire, which was spreading closer to his metal container store, the leader of the Anlo community in the area, Togbui Attipoe, who thought his investment had been affected, collapsed and was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Three victims — the driver of the tanker and two others — who were also injured, have been admitted to the same hospital.
The two fuel dispensers at the station were, however, not destroyed by the fire.
Two taxis which were parked at the station, with registration numbers AW 1751-Z and GR 8118-P, were partly destroyed.
What happened?
According to Mr Richard Kwasi Bonsu, a taxi driver who was about to buy fuel just before the incident occurred, the tanker, with registration number AS 6633-13, arrived at the fuel station to discharge fuel.
He alleged that instead of the driver allowing the fuel in the tanker to settle down, as was the normal process, before discharging it into the underground reservoir, he ignored that precaution and started to discharge it.
Mr Bonsu said immediately the fuel attendant fixed the nozzles and started discharging the fuel into the reservoir, the nozzle moved away from the underground reservoir and the spilled fuel caught fire, spreading to the adjoining containers, some of which served as abode for people, including the deceased and their grandparents.
Fire Service
Initially, some residents of the area and other individuals who were present at the time of the incident tried to put out the fire with fire extinguishers at the station and from the vehicles around but to no avail.
It took eight fire engines from Kumasi and its surrounding communities two hours to bring the fire under the control.
Bereaved family
Relatives of the deceased who gathered at the scene of the disaster told the Daily Graphic that the mother of the deceased, Madam Yaa Joyce, had recently been divorced by her husband.
They alleged that due to the pressure of working extra hard to take care of her four children, Joyce, a groundnut cake seller, had to leave the children with their grandmother, who stayed in a makeshift wooden structure at Anloga-Agric Kokode.
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