A major calamity hit the country yesterday when the 10-storey Ministry of Foreign Affairs building near the Tema Station in Accra was completely consumed by an inferno.
Eyewitnesses said the fire started from the one of the offices at a time when most workers had closed for the day. As the fire raged on hundreds of people looked on helplessly as vital documents, office equipment, including furniture and air conditioners, computers and other items, went up in the flames that blazed through the entire building.
Fire fighters who later made their way to the disaster scene could do little about it and one of them told the Daily Graphic that the nature of the conflagration at the time of their arrival was such that it required a helicopter or fire tenders with very high ladders to reach the top floors.
In the end, almost everything in all the offices, from the ground of the 10th floor, was consumed in the blazing fire, as nothing could be salvaged throughout the many hours that it lasted. The damage in terms of money, equipment, intelligence and valuable documents is yet to be assessed but it could be staggering. The cause of the fire could immediately not be ascertained but a fire officer said investigations would soon be conducted to unearth the cause.
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