BREAKING: 17 dead, 59 injured as explosion rocks Ghana town

 

At least 17 people were killed and 59 injured in an explosion after a truck carrying explosives collided with a motorcycle in western Ghana.

The accident happened around noon in Apiate, near the city of Bogoso some 300 kilometres (180 miles) west of the mineral-rich West African country’s capital Accra.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a statement released overnight said; “A total of 17 people have unfortunately been confirmed dead, and 59 injured people have been rescued.”

A truck carrying explosives collided with a motorcycle in western Ghana Thursday, causing an immense explosion and a huge “loss of lives”, the Ghanaian president said.

Saying the blast caused “the loss of lives and the destruction of properties”, Nana Akufo-Addo added in a tweet: “It is a truly sad, unfortunate and tragic incident.”

Local police released a statement saying that a “preliminary investigation has established that a mining vehicle carrying explosives… collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion”.

“Most of the victims have been rescued” and taken to various area hospitals, the statement said.

According to AFP, Dr Joseph Darko, working at Apiate hospital, said that five of the casualties had been taken there, “including a five-year-old child who is in a life-threatening condition”.

Police asked surrounding villages to open their schools and churches to accommodate any additional casualties.

Reinforcements have been deployed to the scene and people near the blast have been asked to move to nearby villages, the police added, while appealing for calm.