Six female students injured in gas explosion

Six final-year students of the Krobo Girls Senior High School and the wife of one of the teachers of the school sustained serious injuries when a gas cylinder exploded in the school on Monday.

The victims are on admission at the Atua Government Hospital in the Eastern Region.

The students declined to comment on the incident when the Daily Graphic visited them at the Sas George Ward of the hospital today.

They only said: “we are feeling better.” Two of the students were conveyed from the hospital to write their West Africa Secondary Schools Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) today.

During the visit, some of the victims were found chatting. Their faces were covered with blisters and each of  their arms were bandaged.

Apart from nurses who were busily dressing wounds in the ward, there was no sign of doctors.

The incident happened at the backyard of one of the bungalows at the school. The backyard serves as the an alternative kitchen for the occupants of the bungalow.

The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Leticia Atua-Baadu, said the incident was a domestic one contrary to media reports which suggested that gas explosion was massive and very serious.

Narrating events leading to the incident, Mr Kplorla Mensa Gbekor, a teacher of the school whose bungalow was the site of the incident, said his colleague’s wife was cooking when the incident happened.

Pointing to gas cylinders close to a stair case, he said the incident was caused by a malfunctioning regulator of the gas cylinder.

The flames of the gas cooker aided by the air spread quickly and burnt some students who were seeking at the bungalow.

“Because it was in the open space and  close to the flames, the direction of the air extended the flames towards the window and the students.”

According to him, the person most injured was his colleague’s wife, Mrs Tenadu.

Source: Daily Graphic