BARELY TWO days after one of the 16 persons who were burnt in the Monday gas explosion at Big Brother Fast Food Joint, opposite the Ghana National Service (GNFS) at Ashaiman, died at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, another victim, Abdul Mannan Salifu, is reported dead.

Abdul Mannan died at the same medical facility where both were receiving treatment for first degree burns they sustained after the blast.

The deceased, Abdul Mannan, a 31-year-old phone repairer, until his death, was receiving treatment at Korle-Bu together with other victims of the gas explosion who were transferred to there for further treatment after the Monday blast.

A relation of the deceased complained that contrary to government’s pledge to help them, nothing had so far come to them.

“We have so far spent GH¢970 on the victim,” he said.

The phone repairer, who was a well-known member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was a resident of Official Town, an Ashaiman suburb. Apart from mobile phone repairing, the deceased also sold smock (fugu) around the old Turaku area in Ashaiman.

Speaking to Daily Guide after hearing about the death of her only son, Kande Kassim narrated that she was home and was about to take a nap when information got to residents of her house that there was a gas explosion around the Ashaiman Traffic Light where several people were reported injured.

“I just could not believe my ears when my brother said Mannan, my son was a victim of the blast that occurred earlier in the day in our area.

“I ignored his advice and dashed to the hospital where my fears were confirmed that he was one of the persons who sustained burns in the blast,” she said, as she held back her tears.

She never stopped praying for him and other victims and hoped that he, together with them, would soon be discharged and sent to their various homes.

She described his death as a big blow to her and her family and pointed out that it was something she might never be able to get over.

“I lost his father some years ago and here I am today without him. All I can say at this juncture is that I know he is with his creator, Almighty Allah, who has the power to give and to take. May his soul rest in perfect peace,” she said.

At the time of Daily Guide’s visit to the deceased person’s family house, his relations were said to have returned from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra where their hope of receiving his body to prepare it for burial after postmortem for burial in line with Islam tradition was dashed. They were said to have been asked to report today at the medical facility as it needed to sort out a few things before releasing it to them. If that goes as planned by the hospital, then Mannan would be buried this morning.

A source at the family house hinted DAILY GUIDE that Mannan might be buried in a cemetery somewhere in Accra. The source explained that time might not be on their side if they wanted to bring the body home and prepare it for burial, owing to the distance from their home to the hospital which is in Accra.

Mannan Salifu, according to another source, on that day, had gone to the fast food joint in the company of his friend, a 35-year-old transporter who himself passed away on Tuesday at the same hospital.

The two, according to the source, had just arrived at the joint and were waiting to be served when the gas exploded and injured them.

Earlier this week, Dr. Francis Caiquo of the Emergency Unit at the Tema General Hospital told journalists that five persons out of the 16 injured were transferred to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

He gave the assurance that the rest were steadily responding to treatment and further assured their relatives that his team was working hard to ensure that their conditions were stabilized.