At least 17 people are dead and 59 injured following a devastating explosion in a western Ghana town after a truck carrying explosives intended for a mine collided with a motorcycle, the government says.Of the 59 injured, 42 people are being treated in hospitalThe blast left a huge crater and reduced dozens of buildings to dust-covered piles of wood and metal in Apiate, near the city of Bogoso some 300 kilometres west of the capital Accra.
The minister said initial signs point to "an accident involving a truck transporting explosive materials for a mining company, a motorcycle and a third vehicle" which took place near an electrical transformer. "It's a black Thursday. So far 500 houses have been affected. Some have been razed down completely by the explosion while others have developed cracks," Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization, told AFP.Abena Mintah, who witnessed the blast, told local media the driver of the truck dropped down from his hatch, shouting at those nearby to warn them away from the flaming vehicle.
A team of police and army explosion experts were deployed to "avoid a second explosion" and put in place security measures after the blast, the government said in a press release.
Poor buggers ❤ And that fall-out area is massive.
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