A 14 year old pupil in Sunyani on Thursday suffered a most agonising death when one of his lower limbs was blown off by an exploding gas cylinder and flung about 100 meters away.

Patrick Obiri Yeboah, alias Brother had his left leg severed from the thigh by the exploding cylinder at a vulcanizing shop at Zigah Junction in Sunyani on a hot afternoon.

Eye witnesses said the left limb and the body from which it was severed were thrown off in the air to different directions.

After lifting the body high into the air, it dropped at the scene of the explosion while the severed limb landed in a house about 100 meters away.

Horrified members of the house in which the limb dropped initially dispersed in panic at the strange “object” but later regrouped and collectively vowed never to consume fresh meat owing to the sight of the severed leg. They also cited witchcraft as the cause of the tragedy.

The booming sound from the exploding cylinder was heard almost within the entire Zongo area and a nearby market where the operators of the vulcanizing shop were transacting business.

Alex Benneh and Samuel Kyeremeh, the shop attendants, said they had turned off the vulcanizing machine and left for the market to attend to a customer who needed a used tyre to buy from their nearby shop.

They said that while there they heard an explosion from the direction of their shop and that when they enquired, they were told that their machine had exploded and killed a bystander.

"We heard the noise but never knew it had caused any havoc, only to come back to the shop to find the boy lying down," they said.

A crowd that had gathered to discuss the spectacle, which occurred at about 2p.m., was stunned by the way the cylinder exploded and forcefully lifted the boy high into the sky and to the violent death.

Many could not hold back their tears.

The Daily Graphic, quoting hospital sources, said the boy was brought in dead but expressed shock that no family member had followed up long after the event.

At the family house, relatives including the victim's aunt, Agartha Badu, were in uncontrollable tears.

According to the aunt, she was the elder sister of the deceased's mother who resided at Dormaa Akwamu and that she had adopted the boy since his childhood.


Source: Daily Graphic