Gas Explosion: Ace Ankomah Questions Kojo Yankson's "Khebab Seller" Theory

Managing Partner at Bentsi Enchill, Letsa, and Ankomah, Ace Ankomah says it was unlikely that the activities of a khebab seller caused the gas explosion last Saturday at Atomic Junction near Madina in Accra on Saturday night.

In a Facebook post, Mr Ankomah said it was unlikely that the khebab seller would have gone ahead to light the match with the smell of gas in the atmosphere and people scrambling for their lives.

He added that it was also improbable that the same khebab seller would have had the luxury to pack-up all his ingredients , put out the fire and cover the charcoal grill before fleeing for his life.

He posted: "KhebabMan must be some kind of Superman with magical powers. Watch this:

"With a ‘visible’ gas leakage, with a gas smell all over the place, and with people being evacuated, he insists on lighting a fire. So he (1) puts charcoal in the grill, (2) adds paper to it, (3) pours kerosine, (4) takes out a box of matches or a lighter, and then (5) starts a fire.

"When his fire connected with the gas and the explosions started, he had time to (1) gather all of his meat, oil, onions and pepper mix and accoutrements, (2) put out his fire in the grill, (3) place an aluminum cover over the grill, (4) place stones on the cover, and then (5) flee for dear life.

He quipped that the khebab seller may have supernatural powers akin to that of Daenerys Targaryen, a television character in popular HBO television series Game of Thrones who owns fire-breathing dragons.

"I put it to you that the fire knew the man. Ghana, we have our own ‘Daenerys of the House Targaryen, The Unburnt’. Let’s check. He probably has dragons at home!".

The elusive khebab seller has been accused by the manager of the burnt gas station, Mr George Owusu and the host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Kojo Yankson of ingiting the spark that resulted in the deadly explosion.

Responding to a question on how the explosion started, Mr Owusu said “the time I came in, one of them told me that it was the khebab guy who caused the fire”.

However, he added, “up till now, I have not seen the khebab guy’, pointing out that “but I know there was somebody doing the khebab business around”.

Mr Owusu denied allegations that prior to the explosion, the gas was leaking.

Mr Yankson in a now-viral video-post gave a blow-by-blow account of how the incident occurred although he was not present when it happened.

According to the Joy FM presenter, “There was a leak during a loading exercise from one of the tanks here in this compound. Gas was pluming up into the sky, blowing up very fast and everybody in the area noticed it…Members of staff at the gas station evacuated immediately and called the authorities. Within minutes, our chichinga stand operator decided to start work. In spite of the fact that there was escaping gas, he lit a flame under his Khebab and the flame shot up into the air and connected with the gas that was gathering in the air above the heads of all the people standing around…this flame connected with it[the gas] and set the entire sky above the people at this junction ablaze."