President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has promised to personally bear the cost of the burial of Mohammed Ashley, a member of the presidential press corps, who perished in last Saturday’s gas explosion at Atomic junction in Accra.
The president disclosed this when relatives of the late cameraman and management of Kencity, owners of Net 2 TV and Oman FM, paid the president a visit at the Flagstaff House, to formally inform him of the demise of Ashley.
Reports indicate that, the deceased, who lived close to the area, rushed to the scene with his camera upon hearing the explosive sounds.
While recording, he reportedly jumped off the footbridge because he panicked and suffered an excruciating death.
According to the CEO of Kencity, Stella Agyapong, a visit to the morgue, showed that the late reporter sustained severe injuries to his head and burns from the explosion.
Chief Executive Officer of Ken City, Stella Agyapong eulogized the late reporter.
“Mohammed being a camera man took the other direction when everyone was running in the opposite direction so he could get footage. We went to the morgue to see him and he was severely burnt, ” she lamented.
A total of seven people perished, whereas 132 others sustained various degrees of injury. Six of the dead are yet to be identified.
Mohammed Ashley, a muslim, is expected to be buried tomorrow [Tuesday]. Mohammed is not married, and has no kids. He is the second of seven children.
Ghanaian Times Presidential correspondent died in 2015
A Ghanaian Times reporter, Samuel Nuamah, also a member of the presidential press corps, died in a car accident in 2015, whiles some of his colleagues sustained injuries.
The journalists were returning to Accra from the Volta Region after covering then President, John Dramani Mahama, who had delivered a speech at the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church convention.
The accident occurred around Dawhwenya in the Greater Accra Region.
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By:Marie-Franz Fordjoe/citifmonline/Ghana