A former Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Moses Asaga has described as heart drenching the Saturday night gas explosion at Atomic Junction.
The death toll in the explosion has risen to seven – four at the Police Hospital and three at the 37 Military Hospital, government has officially announced.
One hundred and thirty-two persons are injured out of which 64 have been treated and discharged, the Information Minister Mustapha Hamid said in a statement Sunday.
The statement said 68 injured persons including a fire officer at the Police Hospital are still receiving treatment with two others in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit of the 37 Military Hospital.
Investigation has commenced into the cause of fire after a fuel station caught fire when a gas station exploded Saturday evening at the Atomic Junction.
It took about 10 hours for the Ghana National Fire Service to bring the situation under total control.
Speaking on the development Monday, October 9, 2017, on Morning Starr Mr Asaga said: “It is an unfortunate situation.”
He added “…we have to show condolence to the family of the bereaved for what has happened. I was really saddened this thing happened again because the new administration and the new CEO did mention when they assume office in February that they are going to concentrate on safety. So we are of the thinking that for now in the last seven months maybe some new safety guidelines would have come to prevent such disasters.”
He thus charged the Authority to stop issuing out licenses to new applicants in the in Accra. According to him, the capital city has enough fuel stations for its size.
“Accra is not supposed to have filling stations anymore. The hotspot indicates that Accra has enough filling stations. It is time we see more supervision. At a T-junction, the fuel stations should be 300M away,” Asaga said.
Vice president Dr Mahamudu Bawumia gave the strongest indication that the government will announce a new directive in the coming days to deal with frequent gas explosions in the country.
Speaking at the scene of the Atomic Junction gas explosion, he noted government will issue a “solid policy to deal with it once and for all.”
“This is one too many,” the vice president said after cutting short his trip in the Northern region to return to Accra.
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