Appiatse: Driver was in shock after accident and didn’t warn us about explosives

A group of young construction workers from Sekondi-Takoradi who were working on a building in Appiatse before the deadly explosion has given further details on the incident.

There was a huge explosion in Appiatse between Bogoso and Bawdie in the Western Region on Thursday, January 20, and according to reports, an unidentified number of people have lost their lives in the process whiles others were injured.

According to the Ghana Police Service, a preliminary investigation has established that a mining explosive vehicle moving from Tarkwa to Chirano mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion.

Speaking on Skyy Power 93.5FM’s Jolly Breakfast Show on Monday, January 24, 2022, seven (7) young men between the ages of 18 to 22 years who were working on a storey building in the town came to give accounts and also rectify some fake news circulating in the media.

Giving accounts, one of the young men (name withheld) says he and his colleagues were resting in the uncompleted building waiting for materials from their foreman to start work.

In the process of waiting, they heard loud screams so they went out to see what was happening.

He said, “We heard loud screams so we went outside to check what the cause might be, after getting out, we saw the vehicle carrying the explosives making a screeching sound while it moved, I got to find out that there has been an accident and a motorcycle that went under the vehicle is producing that sound.”

“After the vehicle finally stopped, the driver came out and stood beside us in shock, he started to shake whiles he made a phone call.

According to the victim, he asked the driver if he had an assistant which he indicated he works alone and was on a sole journey with no escort or specialist.

Also, while they were standing outside with the driver, the vehicle went up in flames within a few minutes and exploded within 10 minutes after it went ablaze.

However, they want to rectify and make it clear that the driver did not warn anybody about the explosives and if he did, nobody would have gotten close to the vehicle which would have reduced the number of casualties.