Almost entire town leveled after explosives delivery truck crash in Ghana

“The reports that I’m getting from the bureaus, hospitals, is that [there are] roughly about 17 people that have passed away,” Isaac Dasmani, the municipal chief executive for the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly, told local media. An additional 59 people were injured in the explosion, according to AFP.The blast appeared to have completely leveled Apiate, a small town in western Ghana. Kwadwo Bempah, who works in the area and heard the explosion, told CNN that nearly every building there had collapsed, trapping people and animals under rubble.The dead, he said, were “all around.” “It is a real tragedy for Ghana,” Bempah said. Police said most of the victims have been rescued and admitted to various hospitals and clinics. No more details were released on their condition.Ghana has witnessed a series of gas explosions in recent years, with one of the worst blasts killing more than 150 people in the capital Accra in 2015. The explosion occurred as hundreds of residents sought shelter at a gas station from heavy rains.Last October, at least one person was killed and another injured in a gas-related explosion in Accra, local media reported.In the same month, three people died in another blaze in the country’s Ashanti region.CNN’s Taylor Barnes contributed.