Fuel tanker truck explosion kills at least two

Two persons have been confirmed dead following a fuel tank explosion at Delta Agro Limited, a soap manufacturing company at the Heavy Industrial Area of Tema.

One person died on the spot while the other passed on upon arrival at the Tema General Hospital where he was rushed to for medical attention.

The only survivor among the three persons contracted by the company to do some fabrication work on the reservoir which sends fuel to machines at the factory is responding to treatment at the Lagoon Hospital in Tema.

The bodies of the two persons – aged 39 and 45 years – have been deposited at the morgue of the Tema General Hospital, pending autopsy.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the welders were doing hot fabrication on the fuel tank at a time when there was built-up pressure in it and so it exploded.

It is reported that this is the second time such an incident has occurred in the company, with both incidents recording casualties.

A man, who claimed to be the administrative manager of the factory, told DAILY GUIDE at the scene that three persons were cleaning an oil tank, which contained sludge when the explosion occurred.

According to him, “When we got to the scene, according to the workers, they were trying to de-sludge it. So in the course of trying to de-sludge it, they had to cut an area to enable the process to be easily done; then all of a sudden, the thing exploded.”

Second in-command at the Tema Regional Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Timothy K. Affum, explained that his outfit received a distress call about the explosion at the company.

“I must say there was no fire, there was only an explosion at the company. At exactly 10:31 this morning, we received report of an emergency so when we got to the company, we realised that it was one of their tanks containing dirty oil they used to power some of their machines that had exploded.

“Our investigations revealed that they were doing some hot works at the time and they were virtually done with it, because what they were doing at the time of the explosion was grinding to ensure that the outer side of the tank was smooth when the explosion occurred,” he indicated.

He advised factory management in the area to always adopt safety measures to ensure the protection of lives and property.

As at the time of leaving the place, security service personnel and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had travelled to the place to assess the situation.