Alex is just 35 years old and until 3rd June, 2015 worked as a driver. Fast forward to May, 2016 and you will think he is 75. That’s because Alex, popularly known as Mr. Lee, was one of the victims of the June 3rd flood and fire disaster in Accra and was burned beyond recognition.
When Alex Mensah walks in the sun, his skin burns and he cannot see well.
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Mr. Lee had gone to the Goil fuel station (ground zero) to buy oil for his car when it begun to rain heavily. After almost 17 years as a regular customer, he and the workers had become acquainted and so they gave him shelter indoors where they stayed until the water begun to rise to just under his chin.
Pulse.com.gh met Mr. Lee just outside the Goil fuel station where his friends had erected a banner ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster. On the poster are some of Lee’s friends, trotro drivers and their mates, who had also gone to buy fuel or to seek shelter along with their passengers on that day. He was the only survivor amongst his friends.
He recalls the screams of people about an incoming fire which eventually reached the hideout he was in with the workers.
“But before I could get out of the hideout, the fire had gutted my face. I was burning. Going under the water was not an option because I couldn't hold my breath under water, and if you come up, there is the fire. I was panicking and even wanted to die. So I struggled to get out hitting the parked cars and the machines outside with no clear vision of where I was heading because it was also dark. “
After managing to swim out to safety, there was an explosion. He believes it was the explosion of the fuel tanker, which had docked at the station that saved his life. The force threw him across the street where he laid until he struggled to get back on his feet. With his face on fire, he miraculously managed to get home where he was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital.
He could not see for about two weeks and parts of his thighs and back were used in reconstructing his face. After six months and two weeks at the hospital, the father of three young children was discharged.
The once active, working, father and husband is now home-ridden, with his vision seriously compromised. He can’t work because of his condition and has been getting by with the support of his wife, benevolent individuals and his church. Mr Lee complains of itching in the afternoons especially on very hot days, body pains and poor eyesight.
According to him, his family initially had to settle his bills until the government intervened to cater for all his bills and reimburse the family. However since leaving hospital, he says he has been left own his own.
He is expected to report at hospital twice a week (on Mondays and Fridays) but when Pulse.com.gh interviewed him on Monday May 16, he had no plans to go because there was no money to pay for the drugs. Although he does not pay for the medical service, he is expected to pay for the drugs which he says he can’t afford to.
“I still have a sore on my head. I go to the hospital every Monday and Friday so today being a Monday, I should have gone. But I don’t have money. Even the dressing is dirty so I should go to the hospital. I have also been prescribed some medicines for my eyesight, but I don’t have money. If you are discharged, you are expected to pay for all your drugs and the drugs are also very expensive. The government is not paying for that.”
According to Mr Lee, he met a manager at Goil who directed him to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) where victims were supposed to get compensation. However, the AMA told him the compensation was rather for families who lost relatives in the disaster.
"I went back and then met a secretary called Mama Jane. I was told to exercise patience. I call her regularly but I have not gotten anything. No money.”
This was the same response that was given to two other survivors of the disaster that Pulse.com.gh has spoken to.
Pulse.com.gh has tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to reach the AMA for a comment on this specific allegation and on other matters concerning the disaster but those requests have been denied.
Mensah is appealing to organisations and benevolent individuals to come to his aid and support his wife and three young children.
This story was originally published in 2016.