Workers at a Total and a Goil fuel station nearby have also been evacuated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”atpMU9Q5a3kOxN0uSPO2tBi3knKeCEm2″]Citi News has gathered that personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) are currently at the scene helping to avert an explosion.

According to the General Manager of the restaurant, Richmond Kponor, the leakage was noticed on Monday morning and all operations were stopped. Speaking to Citi News,  Mr. Kponor said work at the restaurant would resume in a few hours.

The Public Relations Officer of GNFS, Prince Billy Anaglate, told Citi News that the Fire Service was informed of the situation at about 10:30 am, and a team was swiftly dispatched to the scene and have since been working to address the problem.

He said one of the restaurant’s cylinders appeared to have been perforated from beneath it, hence the leakage.

He called for calm among residents, noting that the affected the cylinder was currently being cooled for safe flaring.

“We were called at 10:34am and we got there. We saw that there was a leak from a gas cylinder that the restaurant had been using. They have 3 bottles of those gas cylinders, but they were packed on a metal floor. Due to the slow combustion of the metal in which they had packed them, one of the cylinders itself had been perforated and was leaking from beneath it.”

“The firemen are trying to cool the whole temperature of the cylinder to prevent an explosion, and also flaring the gas to empty the bottle,” Mr. Anaglate told Citi News.

There is a general apprehension in the country following a major gas explosion at Atomic junction in Accra last week.

The incident which left about 7 people dead, and more than 130 others injured, started from a gas station located few meters away from a Total fuel station.

More than 8 cars were burnt to ashes.

The Fire Service last weekend averted another gas explosion at Achimota when fire gutted the engine compartment of a gas tanker.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, although government is concentrating on the security agencies, it is imperative to invest in civilian support to augment the expertise of the security services.

This follows an order given by the President to Ghana’s Military High Command to put in place a strategy for training and preparation in readiness to fight terrorists who might target the country.

African countries like Nigeria and Kenya have been under attack from terrorist groups; Boko Haram and Al Shabab respectively for years now.

These two groups over the past few months have intensified their operations.

The situation has resulted in the loss of lives, destruction of properties and creating a sense of uncertainty and apprehension among countries on the continent.

In Mr. Addo’s opinion, it will be prudent on the part of government and the nation as a whole, if security analysts and experts are included in the outlining of strategies against terrorist attacks.

In an interview on Eyewitness News, the security analyst warned that the terrorist groups have “elements all across the region, they are all over the region, they are not only in Nigeria and some are just like people who walk within the community.”

He expressed fears that the level of armed robbery cases and rampant killings being recorded in the country “could indicate the potential of it being used for such activities [Terrorist acts].”

Mr. Addo stressed the need to “keep the home intact and familiar kind of relations are kept to the extent that our youth will not be compromised in anyway so civilian support is very crucial.”

He remarked that every country in the sub-region ought to come on board in the strategizing against terrorist activities because “we can go on our knees and pray to God to preserve our lives, but we should also prepare as a nation to do something about it, to prevent it from happening rather than allowing it to happen and react.”

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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