It is an occurrence that has saddened many and reignited calls for proper checks in the siting of fuel and gas stations in the country.
Seven lives were on Saturday lost while more than a hundred continue to battle for their lives following a gas explosion at Atomic junction near Madina in Accra.
Several people including eyewitnesses have given varying accounts of what may have caused Saturday’s explosion even though authorities are yet to officially comment on it.
However, Joy FM’s Morning Show host, Kojo Yankson appears to have gathered enough information to suggest the gas explosion may have been caused by the activities of a Khebab seller.
It’s unclear if Kojo Yankson was at the scene of the incident at the time of the explosion but a video on social media of Mr. Yankson detailing a blow-to-blow account of the incident has gotten many tongues rolling.
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."
The account has however not gone down too well with a number of people including colleagues at the Kokomlemle based Joy FM who have described his narration as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘problematic’.
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Source: ghanaweb.com
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Where is the Keybab seller? Did he escape unhurt?
@Teye: I think I agree with you. Just look at what Manasseh Azuri wrote. It looks as if he has some issues with his co-worker. Is that the right place for people using naked flame in their daily business to operate. The fact that the khebab and kelewele sellers have been operating at that place for years without any problem does not mean an error would not occur leading to an accident one day. Do accidents happen gradually or in a twinkling of an eye? Please let us stop supporting wrong things in the name of defending the poor. Some Ghanaians like using poverty as a reason to flout our laws too much. some of the examples are the support some Ghanaians are giving to those involved in galamsey as well as those selling indiscriminately on the streets in the name of making a living because they are poor. When disaster strikes then we blame those in authority for not enforcing some law. What kind of people are we koraa
I wonder why some people are not getting the logic from the narration of the presenter. Here it is, it is not the khebab seller's fault that there was a leaking gas, however he should have realised that a leaking gas from a filling station is a grave danger and should have also fled like the staff of the filling station, and that that time was not appropriate for lighting fire which can ignite the leaking gas. Just like someone dropping a lighted cigarette in a dry ***barred word***. We all should be safety conscious.
So what will those bashing Kojo Yankson say if investigations proves that truly the Khebab seller caused the fire. Is it so impossible for this to be true? Where from this populist defense of the poor? Everybody wants to sound like a defender of the poor and always want to lay blame on some higher person in authority thus always allowing the poor to go free even if they caused the accident. I am not saying we should not defend the poor but we shouldn't also think that because they are poor they are incapable of doing something wrong or sinning. We should know the nature of Gas. If truly the gas leaked in volumes and the air blows it in the direction of where the Khebab seller is then a little spark of fire in that vicinity could have EASILY connected to the source of the leakage and cause that disaster. Please, we are talking of GAS here not kerosene. For me I am tempted to believe the story of Kojo because how come that none of the staff at the gas filling station had any casualty? That means they saw the leakage and left the place in advance. But with the usual negligent attitude of most Ghanaians, the Khebab seller taught nothing would happen if even he lights any flame at that far distance from the leakage forgetting that it was gas and not kerosene. Let us stop this hidden hatred for the journalist and analyse the issue objectively.