Gas station explosion in Accra kills three and injures several

Three people have been confirmed dead and about 25 others injured following a natural gas explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra Saturday evening.

However, several witnesses told Reuters that they had counted about four to five dead bodies following the gas explosion.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a Deputy Minister of Communications, said: "Unfortunately there are some fatalities and we are working to have the numbers. There are quite a number also injured."

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He also noted that about 200 police officers had been deployed to the accident scene and about 12 fire tenders to get the fire under control.

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"A number of injured persons have been taken to a number of medical facilities," he told Joy News.

The explosion, which started about 7:30 PM, begun at a Goil filing station. It then spread to a Total petrol station across the street at the Atomic Junction and caused multiple explosions.

The loud explosions sent residents as well as students of the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School and the University of Ghana running to safer places for cover.

We didn't know where we were running to, but we kept running," One of the students from PRESEC who fled the school premises told local television network, TV3.

Other reports stated that some students from Ghana Hostels and TF Hostels, which were closer to the epicentre of the explosion, fled the campus to avoid the flame and heat from the incident.

One Franklin Badu Jnr, told Citi FM that the explosion rocked the "roofing of the Pentagon".

He continued, "There was a huge explosion that shook the Pentagon hall where I was. It appears that the gas flared into the atmosphere and the inferno followed suit. Students numbering thousands are fleeing for their lives."

On Twitter, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly authorities warned of an explosion in Legon and Madina areas, urging people heading there or around there to be cautious.

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The gas explosion is the second to have rocked the nation following the June 3 fire and flood disaster about 120 people seeking shelter at a Goil filing station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.