1 suspect has been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed heavy-duty equipment worth millions of cedis belonging to craft manufacturers and artisans.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, September 13 in the Amamomo community in Accra.
Chief fire officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Daniella Mawusi Ntow Sarpong confirmed the arrest to Tv3 reporters, citing negligence as a cause of recent fires.
“The negligence is too much and that is what is worrying us as a nation,” she stated.
“The person has even been arrested and is detained at the Jamestown Police station, he was burning some rubbish and slept,” she continued.
Some artisans who have been affected by the fire say this is not the first time, and expressed frustration about the loss of their equipment.
“Only myself, my own is over billions (lost). Because, only one machine, I bought it for about 1 billion plus, and I had 8 of them,” said one affected.
Another added, “Beds for people that are here, are burnt. Our plywood, one plywood is 480 cedis and we kept about 80 pieces.”
Madam Daniela Sarpong further disclosed that investigations had also determined the cause of the Laterbiokorshie fire that happened on Tuesday, 9th September and affected over 7 houses.
“The other time when we went to Laterbiokorshie, somebody was smoking cigarette, left it there and then fire,” she said.
However, she said, the culprit of the Laterbiokorshie fire is still on the run and is being searched for.
Daniella Mawusi Sarpong stressed, “So the negligence, I say, is something that is worrying us as a country.”
