Five individuals have been detained by police in the Ashanti Region in connection with an alleged assault on firefighters who were attending to a fire outbreak at the racecourse market on Monday, March 11, 2024.
According to reports, the situation escalated when the suspects purportedly assaulted the fire service personnel, claiming they arrived late to the scene. Consequently, one of the firefighters sustained injuries during the altercation, leading to the arrest of the five suspects.
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The fire broke out at approximately 1:00 am on Monday and rapidly spread, causing extensive damage to property estimated to be worth millions of Ghana cedis. Around 180 container shops were engulfed by the flames, resulting in significant losses for the traders. Many were unable to salvage their goods from the fire, leaving them distraught.
Additionally, over 20 milling machines were destroyed in the blaze, compounding the financial losses suffered by the affected traders.
Simon Ben Boadu, the Fire Commander at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Fire Station, attributed the swift propagation of the fire to the attack on the firefighting team. He emphasized the grave consequences of such violence, particularly during emergency response operations.
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“Our preliminary investigations revealed that, the fire started from one of the corn mills, and because the shops are close, it spread to over 180 shops” he said.
