June 3 fire did not start at GOIL – Presidential Committee

Contrary to eyewitness accounts, preliminary investigations have revealed that the fire outbreak at the GOIL filling station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle on June 3 began elsewehere.

After hours of a heavy downpour in Accra which caused devastating floods in the capital city, the GOIL filling station caught fire killing over 150 persons who were seeking shelter at the station and adjoining buildings.

The President, John Mahama subsequently set up a five-member committee to establish the true cause of the June 3 fire disaster.

Speaking to Citi News on Wednesday when the committee went to the fire scene to pick up more information, Chairman of the presidential committee, Justice Isaac Douse indicated that their findings so far indicate that the fire did not start at the filling station.

He stated that it was difficult to establish that fact but stressed that “it definitely did not start from here.”

The committee, he said, has visited other places where the fire is suspected to have began.

Justice Douse was confident that very soon, the truth will be unraveled because he, together with the other members of the committee “are zoning in on whoever was responsible for starting the fire.”

“We are confirming the quantity of water in relation to the quantity of products in the tanks,” he said.

According to him, “the technical people have taken their measurements and they are calculating to determine what their conclusions will be.”

“The National Petroleum Authority and other relevant authorities including GOIL; the owners are taking the measurements to make their calculations,” he added.