June 3 Still Haunts Victims After 1 Yr Of Incident

Although it is a exactly one year today when Ghana experienced its worst disaster in the country’s history, victims who survived that disaster are still being haunted by that unfortunate incident, Today can report.

Labeled as the June 3 twin-disaster, the day brings excruciating memories to many Ghanaians.

And this includes those who lost loved ones and properties to the marauding floods and the raging inferno from the Goil filling station that burnt over 159 people alive at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

A visit by our team of reporters to the scene of the disaster on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 showed that some victims and onlookers were yet to come to terms with the reality of that disaster.

According to one Edmund Amoako who said he lost a brother through the disaster the incident indeed psychologically affected him.

“And because of June 03 people would usually rush home early when the Heavens open for the rains to fall,” Edmund said.

However, he suggested that moving forward as a nation, “we should safeguard the memories of those who died by rekindling the spirit of service and responsibility that gives our country hope and help keep us strong.”

In the case of one Theresa Ababio, a resident of Adabraka, whose husband, Joseph Minkah, died during the disaster, the day will always be a sober reflection for her.

“Everyone has a different way of mourning,” she said.

“Some people keep it absolutely sacred. For me, this is something that gives me consolation that life on this earth is very short and for that matter one needs to be careful of what he or she does,” she sadly noted.

In an interview with Today scores of Ghanaians could not still believe what happened on that day, describing it as the “saddest disaster” in the country’s history.

For instance, “when I heard it, I was concerned, because my junior brother had then not returned from town,” a mechanic at Kaneshie, who gave his name as Papafio, said.

“I feared, I greatly feared, and at some point I thought I had lost him,” he recounted.

But for Ibrahim who lost both wife and a brother, he said he will never be complete again in life.

“How do you (referring to our reporters) expect me to forget this after losing the most two important persons in my life,” he sadly expressed.

Nevertheless, he thought those who volunteered on that fateful day and afterwards to offer various kinds of services to the victims deserve commendation.

“Their courage, service, and sacrifice is a fitting tribute to all those who gave their lives on June 3, 2015,” he said.

Earlier, speaking to some of our reporters who at that time were in the office at Avenor, a suburb of Accra, which place also got flooded, they said it took the intervention of God that saved their lives.

“In fact in a twinkle of an eye we realised that our place (Avenor) was fully flooded, leaving us no choice than to struggle for survival as our lives were in danger,” one of the reporters said.