Update: Two die as condition worsens for 13 victims in Ho gas explosion

Two persons who suffered burns in the gas explosion at the Mighty filling station in the Volta Regional capital, Ho have died. 

Thirteen others are still on admission at the Ho Teaching hospital a week after the incident happened.

The victims, according to health professionals suffered burns between 60 per cent to 97 per cent.

In a CCTV footage circulating on social media, some persons had gone to the Mighty Gas filling station to buy fuel.

A woman and man were also captured running for their lives as they were engulfed in flames.

They appeared like a rolling ball of fire from videos captured by CCTV cameras installed at the filling station.

According to eyewitnesses, the swift response by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service helped in bringing the situation under control.

Some of the injured persons include station attendants and some drivers who were at the gas station to fill their cylinders.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer at the Ho Teaching hospital, Dr. John Tampouri said the wounds of some of the victims had already been infected, a situation he says is worrying.

“The skin is getting infected so what we are going to do is to isolate those from the rest else, it will spread to the rest.”

He further revealed his outfit had begun negotiations with the Korle bu teaching hospital to accommodate some of the victims and treat them.

Meanwhile, the Volta Regional NADMO Director, Divine Boson donated GHC2,000 to settle part of the medical bills of the victims.

He called on individuals and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the victims of the gas explosion.

Previous incidents

This is not the first time a gas explosion has caused injuries to persons this year.

In 2020 alone, there have been a number of gas explosions that have either wiped out an entire family or left big scars on the bodies of victims.

In January 2020, a policewoman and her three children died after a gas cylinder in their home exploded.

According to reports, the 45-year-old deceased policewoman was about to prepare her family’s meal for the day when the gas she was using for the process exploded to swallow her and her three children – 9, 11, and 22 years olds.

Kate Abban was a Police Inspector who had just been promoted to the rank of a Chief Inspector and was stationed at Techiman in the Bono Region.

In May 2020, a similar incident happened at Lebanon Zone Two, a suburb of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region.

The incident left 51-year-old Michael Akpeleteh and his two children dead.

Eyewitnesses’ accounts indicated that the wife of the deceased, Michael Akpeleteh, set fire to a gas stove to prepare rice porridge and left it in the care of the children for the market.

According to the eyewitnesses, a few minutes after the woman had left, the gas cylinder exploded, when the husband and his four children were all in the room.

In the Central Region, a similar incident happened.

The July 2020 incident which occurred in the Central Region left two dead and five others with life-threatening injuries.

It was believed that a cylinder belonging to one of the victims may have caused the July 2020, explosion.