AMA supports families of June 3 disaster victims

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) yesterday presented GH¢10,000 cash each to some 25 families of the victims of the June 3, 2015 disaster.

This brings to 71 the number of victims that have been compensated and supported by the government through the assembly since the fire and flood disaster last year.

The incident, which occurred at the Circle GOIL fuel station in Accra, claimed 159 lives while 154 persons sustained various degrees of injury, a situation that brought the nation to its knees.

According to a report of a five-member committee inaugurated to investigate the possible causes of the twin disaster, five buildings, including the GOIL fuel station, suffered various degrees of damage as a result of the fire.

Seventeen motor vehicles, including a fuel tanker, were burnt beyond repairs, a mini-mart located at the fuel station, Bediako Pharmacy and the Honest Chef Restaurant were completely destroyed.

Other properties were also damaged.

Bodies still at the morgue

At a ceremony in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of the AMA, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, said although 159 people lost their lives during the incident, not all of them had been identified by their families.

“We still have people at the morgue who have not been identified by anybody and even identifying the families have not been easy. It takes a while for families to come forward and we have to identify them to make sure they are the right families,” he said.  

The AMA boss said compensations would continue to be paid “until we have identified all the bodies and families have come forward, claimed the bodies and buried them”.

Show of support

Therefore, he said, the token was an expression of support to the victims of the disaster.

“There is no way, shape or form that we can make a contribution in any amount that will equate the loss. We are only expressing our support and sympathy and to say that we are with you and we have always been with you,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the monies presented would be used to take care of the needs of the families left behind.

Highlighting some of the activities to mark the first anniversary of the disaster, Mr Vanderpuije said there would be a nondenominational service at the Ernest Bruce Methodist Church at Adabraka, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of the departed, adding: “This is to let you know that the event of June 3 is one that will be difficult to forget.”

Mr Vanderpuije, however, assured the public that the government had taken the necessary steps to ensure that the twin disaster would not occur again.

He urged the general public to show their collective support by religiously observing sanitation laws and desisting from pouring rubbish into open drains and building on watercourses.

Support laudable

Recounting the incident, Mr Samuel Ayitey Tagoe, father of Millicent Dede Tagoe, deceased, said his late daughter sold used-clothing at Circle where the disaster occurred.

He said the deceased left behind three children and as such the money would be used to support their educational needs.

Mr Tagoe lauded the government and the assembly for their support and expressed the hope that the event would not be recorded again in the history of the country.