THREE PEOPLE have been confirmed injured when a total of 12 fuel haulage trucks, fully loaded with petroleum products, exploded at a fuel tanker yard behind the Ashaiman Timber Market in the Greater Accra Region.
The three injured persons have been identified as two drivers and a driver’s mate who are receiving treatment at the Tema General Hospital and Crystal Hospital in Ashaiman respectively.
According to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), preliminary investigation into the actual cause of the Sunday fire outbreak revealed a stealing case.
Prince Billy Anaglate, Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, was of the view that theft sparked the explosion which wreaked havoc to some properties.
He explained that some operators of the yard attempted to siphon fuel from one of the tankers which was exposed to very high temperature, triggering the fire.
“They had 25 tankers parked in this yard but 12 of them were those that got burnt… the place is a yard in which tankers normally park and in this yard people were siphoning fuel and the siphoning is what caused the actual fire,” he stated.
The Deputy PRO debunked rumours that some people died, explaining that “……There have never been any death. The only thing that got burnt was a goat.”
Meanwhile, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has tasked the GNFS to fast-track investigations into the inferno to enable the authority take appropriate action to avert future disasters.
According to the authority, the call is as a result of contradictory reports about the actual cause of the fire, with suspicion that the fire was sparked due to transfer of petroleum products from a fuel haulage truck to a bulk with the use of generator set.
Hassan S. Tampuli, Acting Chief Executive of NPA, made the call when he toured the fire scene and visited the three injured persons at separate health facilities in Tema yesterday.
He explained that issues of safety, health and environment are something the authority takes very serious and that he would soon embark on a campaign to sensitize stakeholders in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
The 12 tankers which were completely burnt, were parked at the premises of a garage when explosions occurred causing the fire outbreaks.
It took personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service over four hours to bring the ravaging fire under control and prevent it from spreading to nearby tanker yards and the Timber Market nearby.
Some eyewitnesses told DAILY GUIDE that the yard had about 60 tankers parked in it prior to the fire.
They explained that more tankers could have been burnt if some drivers had not rushed to move their haulage trucks to various destinations.
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