A victim of the June 3 fire and flood disaster, Derick Appiah has revealed that he has survived on loans since the incident destroyed his business two years ago.
He explained how he lost all his properties and business equipment to the tragic incident that resulted in the death of more than 150 people.
Appiah, who sells fresh fruit juice drink close to the fuel station that exploded, noted that he has had no form of assistance from government.
He stated that his business survived because of the benevolence of his bank which gave him a loan to restart the business.
“I did not get even a pesewa from any government agency, a lot of people say they [government] have been giving money to people but we got loan from a bank that we save with. We explained what happened and they [the bank] also saw for themselves what happened on TV so they granted us the loan and we have been paying since that time. We have not been able to finish paying,” he lamented
Appiah bemoaned the negative impact the disaster has had on his business suggesting that his returns has decreased compared to what he used to get before the incident.
He added, “after the disaster, it’s the loan which helped us to purchase all the machines to restart the business. Business hasn’t been the same again because a lot of people have not been using the route, we face a lot of challenges.”
Appiah, who incurred some degree of injury due to the fire, managed to survive by climbing a tree nearby.
The country was thrown into a state of grief after torrential rains on June 3, 2015 and an inferno claimed the lives of more than 150 people at Kwame Nkrumah Circle.