Fire razes Abuja slum in Accra; one person feared dead

Close to 200 structures in Abuja, a slum community in Accra, near the office of the Ghana Cocoa Board have been gutted by fire on Tuesday evening.

Personnel of the Ghana Fire Service, who were at the scene to fight the fire had  difficult moments in controlling the residents as they impeded their operations.

The Ghana Fire Service personnel had to fall on the assistance of the police to help prevent residents from getting close the scene.

Though the actual cause of the fire outbreak cannot be immediately verified, residents in the slum community who are predominantly people from the Northern part of Ghana told Graphic Online that they suspected an electrical fault within one of the wooden structures to have triggered the fire.

Residents could be seen trying to salvage their belongings, while others help the personnel of the fire service to fight the fire.

Meanwhile a child of about eight years of age is believed to have been trapped in the fire.

The Abuja slum serves as a home to over two thousand people who are mostly traders in the Central Business District of Accra.