Gas explosion in Ghana's capital Accra, casualties unknown - government

A fuel station has exploded in Ghana’s capital , Accra on Saturday evening, killing an unknown number of people, a government official said.

“Unfortunately there are some fatalities and we are working to have the numbers,” Deputy Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told a local radio station. “There are quite a number also injured.”

He added that the main blaze was largely under control and that the government planned to release casualty figures on Sunday morning.

The explosion which occurred at around 7:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT) began at a state-owned GOIL liquefied natural gas station and spread to a Total petrol station across the street at the city’s Atomic Junction.

Some students at some hostels at the West African nation’s premier University campus, close to where the incident happened reportedly took to their heels.

Social media images posted to facebook and shared on whatsapp saw thick smoke billowing in the air seconds after the explosion.