4th June, 2015
Over seventy-five dead bodies have been retrieved at the Goil Filling Station at the Nkrumah Circle in Accra that caught fire during Wednesday’s torrential rains, reports Ghanaweb.
The Ghana National Fire Service has confirmed that officially 75 people are dead and fears the number could rise as the salvage operation continues.
It is, however, unclear what sparked the inferno at the Service Station behind the GCB Towers and opposite the Vienna City night club.
Meanwhile, people helping the security services in the rescue operation are telling Starr News that about 96 charred bodies have been found.
Starr News’ Asabea Akornor who is at the scene reports that the police are still counting and bringing out the victims from their respective homes around the scene of the outbreak.
The inferno followed hours of heavy downpour in the capital that led to power outages in several communities.
Firefighters battled the blaze into the early hours of Thursday while police and soldiers joined emergency crews helping rescue people trapped in the wreckage, said city Mayor Oko Vanderpuije.
Accra is flooded following torrential rains that continued for several hours.
Hundreds of workers in the capital have been left stranded at their work places as the heavy downpour submerged the city.
Most of the principal streets in Accra are flooded and unmotorable as commercial and private vehicles are trapped in the deluge which is above knee level.
Most of the drivers have parked their vehicles on the inner and outer pavements to prevent their vehicles from being carried away by the flood.
Tables, chairs and broken stalls of sellers could be seen floating on the submerged streets, especially on the Ring Road and Nkrumah Circle.
Reports reaching Starrfmonline.com indicate that walls have collapsed at flood-prone areas like Awoshie, Santa Maria, Kwashiebu and Tabora and their surrounding areas and residents are struggling to evacuate their homes for safety.
.Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama said as he toured the scene that “This loss of life is catastrophic and almost unprecedented.
“A lot of people have lost their lives and I am lost for words.”
Mahama extended his condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and said “precautionary measures” needed to be taken against flooding that hits the city every year.
A senior police officer said that “the fire service alone has retrieved about 73 bodies,” while Red Cross disaster management coordinator Francis Obeng put the death toll at “more than 70.
Local hospitals said morgues were full, with the death toll likely to rise, according to security officials.
Communications minister Edward Omane Boamah described the situation as a “national emergency”.
Boamah said the armed forces, police, fire and the National Disaster Management Organisation have been deployed to help those affected.
“The general public is kindly advised to avoid fast-moving rainwater and areas they know have big drains. Stay on higher ground, where necessary, to prevent loss of life,” he added.