Five Burnt To Death

Accra, Nov. 19, GNA - The Ghana National Fire Service on Wednesday confirmed that five people died in Monday night's fire outbreak at a warehouse at Ablekuma in Accra.

Division Office Grade 1 Daniel Ntim Yeboah of the Weija Fire Service Station, which arrived first at the scene, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that the cause of the fire was still being investigated and a report would be made as soon as investigations were completed.

"We got to the scene amidst heavy traffic and blackout to meet five deaths. Others had already been rushed to the hospital before we arrived," he said.

Division Officer Yeboah said the Industrial Area and the Accra Regional Headquarters fire fighters joined in fighting the fire that took over five hours to be extinguished.

He said the owner of the warehouse, who is said to be a Nigerian businesswoman, doubted that the fire was allegedly caused by fire crackers since they were in a shipping container. Division Officer Yeboah advised the public to desist from storing inflammable materials in their residences. He asked the public to give the Fire Service the right directions to fire spots.

An unknown number of persons were also feared to have been trapped under the warehouse that collapsed after a loud explosion when fire gutted the warehouse.

A driver and two others, who were at the warehouse to offload goods from a KIA truck, were among the dead, according to witnesses. One of them who identified himself as Kwesi told Ghana News Agency that the incident occurred around 1800 hours. He said residents around observed thick smoke billowing from the warehouse but they could not rush in to save any of the victims. The fire, he said, spread to three houses nearby but did not cause much harm.