Local authorities said on Sunday that an explosion late on Saturday at a granite quarry in western Ghana operated by the Chinese company Omni Quarries resulted in at least four fatalities, one of whom was a Chinese person.
According to local disaster management official Michael Nyah, the source of the blast, which damaged structures close to the quarry in Shama district and left rubble strewn across large areas of agricultural land, was not immediately known.
He told newsmen that two are being treated at a local hospital in critical condition and that four more persons are still missing.
“Farmland around has been destroyed and the buildings that are not destroyed have ripped-off ceilings or cracked walls,” he said.
Community Leader Emmanuel Owu-Ewie said he was woken late on Saturday by parts of his ceiling collapsing. He said emergency responders were immediately deployed to the scene.
“Everything has come down; all you see around are electricity poles and trees but the area has been flattened,” he said.
When asked whether the storage was permitted, he said that could be ascertained only after the inspectors had completed their investigation.
The District Chief Executive for Shama, Ebenezer Dadzie, also told the newsmen that emergency team were deployed to recover those missing and ascertain the extent of damage.
He called the situation regrettable and stated that the District Security Council, which he leads, was unable to immediately provide information on the number of people that were hurt and killed.
He said that the district’s National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the assembly were in the area to examine the damaged property in more detail and provide the affected residents with appropriate advice.
The company was allegedly illegally storing the explosives, according to information acquired.
According to a person connected to the business, the explosives were stored in a room that wasn’t a structured storage explosive magazine when the incident happened.