Fuel tanker explosion kills two brothers

Two brothers were Sunday night burnt beyond recognition when a fuel  tanker caught fire at Anloga-Agric Kokode near Kwadaso in Kumasi.

The deceased, Michael Owusu Yeboah, eight years and Raymond Owusu Yeboah, six years were asleep in a makeshift wooden structure close to the fuel station where the tanker was offloading.

The leader of the Anlo Community in the area, Togbui Attipoe, also collapsed on hearing the news of the fire which was drawing closer to his metal container store.

Three victims, the driver of the tanker and two others, who were also injured by the fire, have been admitted at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) where they are receiving treatment.

Two other taxi cabs parked at the station with registration numbers AW 1751-Z and GR 8118-P were partly destroyed. 

What happened? 

Briefing the Daily Graphic, Mr Richard Kwasi Bonsu, a taxi driver who was just about to buy fuel at the time of the deflagration, said the tanker with registration number AS 6633-13 arrived at the fuel station to refill the underground tank.

He alleged that instead of the driver allowing the fuel in the tanker to settle down, as was the normal process, before discharging the fuel into the underground reservoir, they refused and started reloading.

He said immediately they fixed the nozzles and started discharging the fuel into the reservoir, the nozzle moved away from the underground tanker and the spilled fuel caught fire spreading to the adjoining containers some of which served as the abode for people including the deceased and their grandparents.

Fire Service

Initially, those around tried to extinguish the fire with fire extinguishers from the station and from the vehicles around but that yielded nothing. 

It took eight fire tenders from Kumasi and its surroundings to battle the fire which lasted about two hours.

Deceased Family

Wailing relatives who had gathered at the scene of the disaster told the Daily Graphic that the mother of the deceased, Madam Yaa Joyce, was recently divorced by her husband who had shirked his responsibility as a father.

She alleged that due to the pressure of working extra hard to take care of their four children, Yaa Joyce, a groundnut cake seller, had to leave the children with their grandmother who stayed in a makeshift wooden structure at Anloga-Agric Kokode.