Communal Labour Ends in Disaster

Ve-Deme (V/R), July 21, GNA - Seven enthusiastic communal labour participants were burnt severely when a concrete pole they were erecting for electricity supply to the town caught fire and exploded at the weekend. The pole touched an overhead high tension wire, caught fire and exploded, turning the happiness of the people into anguish. The project was part of the Self-Help Electrification Project for Ve-Deme in the Hohoe district.

Three of the seven people injured are still on admission at the Hohoe Government Hospital while four of them were treated and discharged.

Those on admission are Mr Kwaku Nulanyo, 42, a farmer, Mr Maxwell Ackotia, 29, and Mr Ofin Gyebi, 32, both technicians with the Transelectric Company, an electrical firm undertaking the project.

Mr Kwasi Ayirebi, Assemblyman for the area, said the people were enthusiastically working on the project they have longed for when the disaster struck.

"A low tension pole was being erected under a high tension wire when it caught fire and exploded and, in a split of a second, the seven had collapsed but regained consciousness at the hospital".

Mr Ayirebi said the Ve-Golokuati police are investigating the case. Togbe Delume the seventh, Paramount Chief of Ve Traditional Area, said the upkeep and the medical expenses of the victims are being borne by the people of Ve-Deme.

He appealed for support for the victims and called for the early completion of the project.