BBC Online :
At least 13 people have been killed in a huge explosion near a mining town in south-western Ghana, officials say.
Police say a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine collided with a motorcycle near the town of Bogoso.
Images shared by local media showed a large plume of black smoke rising above flattened buildings and scattered debris as residents call for help.
Graphic videos showed mutilated bodies of victims. A large crater can also be seen beside a road.
“It’s almost like a ghost town now,” Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, a senior official from the country’s disaster management agency, told the AFP news agency.
He said about 500 houses were affected – some of which were completely destroyed – in Appiatse between Bogoso and the village of Bawdie.
Local police commander William Jabialu said the number of confirmed deaths had been revised down to 13 from a previous toll of 17. He said another 45 were being treated in local hospitals.
There are fears that the number of deaths may rise as emergency teams comb through the remains of the houses.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said the military had joined emergency efforts to help “contain the situation”, and “rapid relief” was being sent to residents.
