The Northern Regional capital-Tamale on Saturday narrowly escaped what could have been another fuel station disaster in Sakasaka eerily similar to the Accra Kwmae Nkrumah circle flood and filling station disaster that claimed over 150 lives on June 3rd, 2015.
The incident which occurred at about 1:30 p.m. created heavy traffic along the Tamale-Bolga highway with some drivers abruptly jumping from their vehicles to run for their dear lives.
A benz passenger bus with registration number AS 7597-13 and carrying 13 passengers caught fire at the Shell fuel station adjacent to the Afa Ajura Mosque. Eyewitnesses accounts say a generator at the station closer to an underground tank ignited by some sparks at the time a tanker was offloading fuel.
The benz bus drove into the station while sparks were flying between the generator and the underground tank and was caught up in the fire. It took courageous pump attendants who used fire extinguishers to prevent it from spreading and causing havoc.
Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service arrived on the scene on time. Bystanders and courageous young men managed to pushed the vehicle onto the main road.
A more scary situation was that many people feared the fire could have spread to another shell fuel station adjacent to the Sakasaka police station.