A 47-year-old employee of Renel fuel station at New Dawhenya in the Ningo Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region, Anthony Ahiabu, met his untimely death, following a minor gas explosion at the station this morning.
Eyewitnesses said the explosion occurred at dawn on Tuesday when gas was being discharged into the station’s underground tank.
The explosion affected one of the rooms housing staff of the station, which Anthony was in, resulting in his death.
The blaze, which was detected around 5 am, might have razed the whole fuel station without the timely intervention of personnel from the Devtraco Fire Service Command.
It is not clear what might have caused the explosion, but sources say the deceased, had been cooking in one of the rooms when the gas was being discharged into the underground reservoir.
A few properties at the staff restroom were destroyed by the blaze.
(DO) II William Blankson, the Tema Regional Fire Operations officer told the media, investigations are still ongoing to unravel the cause of the incident.
“Our fire station at Devtraco received a distress call at about 5:49 am that there was a fire at Dawhenya oil. So we rushed there in five minutes. Upon arrival, we realised the fire was severe so we called for reinforcement from a nearby station. They were able to control the fire and put it out at 7:15 am. Afterwards, it was discovered that one Anthony Ahiabu a 47-year-old had died,” he said.
Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Tema General Hospital morgue.
The Ghana Fire Service in a statement said: “the cause of fire is under investigation.”
Below is the full statement from the GNFS:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DAWHENYA FIRE INCIDENT
The Ghana National Fire Service received a distress call at 0549hrs reporting a fire outbreak at Renel Filling Station, New Site, Dawhenya near Savanna Junction. Personnel from the Devtraco Fire Station which is the nearest station to the fire scene were immediately dispatched. They later sought assistance from the Tema Industrial Area Fire Station.
On arrival at 05537hrs it was observed that the fire was well alight and had engulfed an LPG discharge Motor Valve and a Water Pump at the Renel Filling Station.
By the time the fire was extinguished, the LPG Discharge Motor Valve and Water Pump were partially burnt, whilst an air conditioner and belongings of workers at the filling station were totally burnt.
Unfortunately, at the end of the two hour of rescue and fire operations, one worker by name Mr. Anthony Ahiabu was reported dead and taken to Tema General Hospital Morgue.
It took two fire engines to bring the fire under control due to its intensity and the extent of fire spread. The cause of fire is under investigation.
Ellis Robinson Okoe
Divisional Officer Grade II
For: Ag. Deputy Director -Public Relations