Following an explosion on Sunday morning at a quarry site in Shama, Western Region, four deaths have been officially confirmed, and many others are still unaccounted for.
Several others have been injured.
The explosion happened at the G-Omini Quarry quarry site in the Shama District of the Western Region, according reports.
Many night shift workers, some of whom were burned beyond recognition, were reportedly Ghanaian and Chinese nationals.
While some of the injured have been taken to various hospitals, other people are still missing.
The explosion, occurred at about 00:30 GMT.
The explosives, reports say, were allegedly being kept in an unorganized storage without a permit, which they detonated and killed the workers.
The quarry has sustained significant damage in addition to the fatalities and injuries. .
In a statement to the media, Ebenezer Dadzie, the District Chief Executive for Shama, confirmed the incident and stated that efforts were being made to locate those still missing as well as determine the extent of the damage.
The District Security Council, he said, had not yet determined how many people had been injured or killed.
News sources, however, learned that the company was illegally storing the explosives without the Minerals Commission’s consent, in violation of the law governing the acquisition, storage, and use of explosives.
The explosives stored in a room that is not a structured storage explosive magazine, according to a source close to the company, are what caused the explosion, not the blasting process itself.
According to the report, the victims were workers who were working the night shift and were engaged in their routine activities when the explosion occurred.
Source-Graphiconline
