Two gas stations in Accra have exploded, killing an unknown number of people. The blasts sent a fireball into the sky and were heard, seen and felt across the city.
A tanker carrying natural gas exploded at 7:20 p.m. (1920 UCT) in a northern suburb of Ghana's capital Accra on Saturday evening, killing and wounding an unknown number of people. A second explosion followed minutes later.
A gas tanker is believed to have exploded at a state-owned GOIL liquefied natural gas station in the Legon suburb, causing a petrol station across the street to go up in flames near the city's Atomic Junction.
The two explosions sent a fireball into the night sky and could be heard across the city of some 7 million people.
"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."
More than 200 police personnel were deployed to help to cordon off the area.
Pictures from the scene showed charred out cars and debris scattered around the gas stations.
Authorities said they would release casualty figures on Sunday morning.
Legon is a suburb of the capital, and close to some hostels for the University of Ghana.
In 2015, more than 100 people were killed in an explosion at a petrol station in Accra used as a shelter by people escaping flooding.
cw/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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