Six Fire Officers were part of the many who were injured during a gas explosion at the premises of a utensil company, Ghana Household Utility Company (GHUMCO) in the Western Regional capital, Takoradi.
The six fire officers who sustained varied degrees of injuries, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Ghana Fire Service (GFS), Western Region, Emmanuel Bonney said were members of the first fire team that was dispatched to the premises of the company to put off the fire.
The team, he said were attempting to put off the initial minor fire resulting from the explosion when a second explosion occurred.
The fire officers were thus caught in the second explosion and had to escape through the fire, suffering various degrees of burns in the process.
The explosion at GHUMCO, Emmanuel Bonney speaking on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ Wednesday said happened while a tanker was discharging gas at the premises of the company.
“While the fire officers were attempting to put off the fire, a second explosion happened. They were caught in the second explosion and were engulfed by fire. So they had to rush through the fire to safety and sustained serious burns in the process…,” he said.
One of the fire officers rushed to drive away the fire tender to safety in the process as well.
The six suffered serious burns around the head and face with one of them who had his face seriously burnt airlifted to Accra for treatment.
One of them was also treated and discharged yesterday.
More than a hundred and ten persons were injured in the explosion with many of them being passersby who were caught in the second explosion while capturing the images of the first explosion on their phones.
Some school children and some workers of Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Yard were also caught in the explosion as well.
Emmanuel Bonney therefore cautioned the public to desist from the practice of always capturing accident scenes with their phones instead of calling on the appropriate agencies to act.
Acting medical director at Efia Nkwanta Hospital, Dr Richard Anthony, said the eighty four patients who were injured during the gas explosion and brought to the facility are in stable condition.
Only 20 of them, he said, are still on admission.
He further urged the public to seek immediate medical attention when caught in explosions.