The Bureau of Public Safety has urged government to make public the investigative report on the June 3rd flood and fire disasters which occurred at the Goil Filling Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra last year.
Ghana was thrown into a state of mourning after a tragic flood and fire disaster which claimed the lives of over 154 people following an explosion on that eventful Wednesday.
The Goil Filling Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra became the site of a cruel catastrophe after a gas explosion left charred remains of persons who had sought refuge from the floods in the area.
A committee set up by government to investigate the incident accusing one Seth Kwesi Ofosu of causing the fire.
The committee believes a lit cigarette smoked by Mr Ofosu caused the fire. The committee was not clear whether the action by the suspect was deliberate.
He was said to be smoking during the rainstorm but failed to completely put out the cigarrete and when the naked fire got in contact with the rain water mixed with leaked fuel from the Goil station disaster struck.
But a year after the gory incident, government has held the report close to its chest and not ready to make it public.
However speaking on TV 3 News, the Executive Director of the Bureau of Public Safety, Nana Yaw Akwada, stated that the refusal of government to make the report public has resulted in a situation where Ghanaians are unable to draw lessons from that unfortunate and horrific experience.
“When 9/11 occurred and America put together a team of security and public safety experts to investigate the incident they made the report public and everyone read it; every county could access a copy, currently whoever is interested could obtain a copy online and that has led to massive reforms in the aviation sector. So we need this one also in order to follow…at least track the recommendation that were made instead of choosing and leaking it one…one.”
Excerpts from the report
Government set up a committee to look into the cause of the fire and make recommendations to prevent such disasters in the future.
After weeks of investigation which saw committee members move to the disaster zone on a number of occasions the report said the “flooding of Kwame Nkrumah was the remote cause of the fire.”
“The displacement of fuel from the Goil Filling station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle was the intermediate cause.”
“The dropping of the lit cigarette stub by Seth Kwesi Ofosu onto the floating fuel was the ultimate or immediate cause of the fire” the committee report averred.
“We are not in the position to determine his [Ofosu] actual status so we have handed him to the security agencies to investigate and arrive at a conclusion whether or not he intentionally caused arson.
“…Whether he was aware there was fuel on top of the flood waters or not is not clear to us so we have asked the security agencies to investigate properly and come to a conclusion on that matter,” Chairman of the committee Mr Justice Isaac Delali Douse, told the media at a press conference to announce the findings last year.
The report said 154 people died with the same number of people sustaining varying degrees of injuries.
“Five houses including the Goil Filling Station suffered various degrees of damage as a result of the fire.”
The properties are valued at 1,658,847.00.
The committee is recommended dredging and desilting of the Odaw river and its tributaries as well as creation of a sanitation police force.
It is however unclear what has happened to the suspect after it was established he caused the fire.
