The Goil Filling Station at Circle in Accra was at the time serving as a shelter for a number of people who had sought refuge there, due to the heaviness of the rains but what was supposed to be a safe haven for them turned out to be their doom.
Subsequent investigations would show that due to the heaviness of the rains, the fuel at the station got mixed with water, allowing the explosion to spread to other buildings and causing the magnitude of the disaster that has become one of the darkest days in Ghana’s history.
“It is a trying time and a moment to renew our faith in the Almighty.
“The first thing to do is to deal with the loss and tragedy and then later examine what happened to see if it’s a failure of our laws or its enforcement. Let’s see how it happened and what we have to do in future so it never happens,” Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was then an opposition leader, said.
According to John Dramani Mahama, who was president in 2015, the events of that day were “catastrophic and unprecedented.”
At the onset, the Ghana National Fire Service confirmed that officially, 75 people had died and that there were fears the number could rise as the salvage operation continues.
Official numbers later confirmed that more than twice that initial number of persons had died from the explosion.
Here are some photos to show the wreckage that was caused by the twin disaster of June 3, 2015, below:
