Death Toll Rises to Two in Essikado Premix Fuel Explosion2 min read
Two persons aged seven and fifteen years old out of the sixteen persons caught up in a premix fuel explosion at Ngyiresia, near Essikado have this morning, May 19, 2024, succumbed to death.
They died barely twenty-four hours after they were sent to the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. The two died some two hours apart.
They were among thirteen other victims sent to the EFfia Nkwanta Regional Hospital due to the severity of their condition. The remaining three were sent to the Benedict Hospital.
The 15-year-old was resting in a wooden structure meters away when he was caught by the raging flames. The seven-year-old was also reportedly playing in the vicinity.
National Democratic Congress Parliamentary Candidate for Essikado- Ketan, Dr Grace Ayensu Danquah, has joined other surgeons at the hospital and is racing against time to save the remaining victims.
“We are doing everything medically possible to ensure that we can save the lives of the remaining victims,” she said.
She has also made a donation of surgical items to help the victims.
Fishermen at Ngyiresia have been transporting their barrels of premix fuel to the beach by rolling them through a footpath in another part of the community, densely populated by fishmongers.
This mode of carting the barrels has been the case for some time due to the lack of a motorable route.
For every sea expedition, tens of barrels get rolled, for some 500 metres downhill to the beach. This is regardless of the naked fire around occasioned by the activities of fishmongers.
Last Saturday will turn out to be perhaps the last time the fishermen will have to use such a mode of transportation.
Reports have it that, this particular consignment of premix fuel was bought from elsewhere due to the scarcity of the product at Ngyiresia.
From the Ngyiresia Community Premix Fuel Pump to where the explosion occurred, is a minute’s walk.
The last time an explosion occurred in the Western Region, four persons died, and several others were maimed for life. This was at a quarry site at Anto-Aboso in the Shama district.
