Ghana Fuel Tanker Fire Kills More Than 20

At least 23 residents of Tanoso were burned beyond recognition when the tanker from which they were scooping fuel caught fire.

More than 20 people were killed and many others seriously injured when a tanker truck carrying fuel caught fire after it crashed in western Ghana on Wednesday, police and an eyewitness said. The tanker crashed near the town of Tanoso, some 240 km (150 miles) from the capital Accra and close to Ghana's border with Ivory Coast. The vehicle exploded in flames as local people were collecting spilled petrol.

"At least 23 residents of Tanoso were burned beyond recognition when the tanker from which they were scooping fuel caught fire," eyewitness Kofi Lawson told Reuters.

"I counted at least 23 bodies that were burned to ashes," he said, speaking by phone from the crash site.

Police said they counted at least 21 bodies, and that more than 20 had been taken to hospital, some in a critical condition.

"On hearing the crash, the residents rushed to the scene and started siphoning the fuel off the tanker while others used bowls, buckets, enamelware -- anything they could lay hands on -- to scoop the fuel that was pouring out and unfortunately, there was a fire and an explosion and many of them got burnt," said Superintendent Solomon Nim.

Many West Africans have been killed attempting to salvage leaking fuel from crash sites. In August, at least 10 people died in Cameroon as they collected petrol from an overturned tanker which exploded. In September, a similar accident in Central African Republic killed 15.