More than 90 people were killed in a fire at a petrol station in Ghana’s capital, Accra, as they sought shelter from heavy rains that caused widespread flooding, the police and Red Cross said Thursday.
“This loss of life is catastrophic and almost unprecedented,” a visibly shaken President John Dramani Mahama said as he toured the scene.
“A lot of people have lost their lives and I am lost for words.”
Communications minister Edward Omane Boamah described the situation as a “national emergency”.
A senior police officer said that “the fire service alone has retrieved about 73 bodies,” while Red Cross disaster management coordinator Francis Obeng put the death toll at “more than 90”.
Local hospitals said morgues were full, with the death toll likely to rise, according to security officials.
The fire broke out late on Wednesday night in the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area of central Accra and is thought to have spread from a nearby residence.
It was not immediately clear exactly how the victims died, with reports that some had drowned in flood waters caused by blocked roadside gutters and drains that overflowed because of the rains.