At least 17 people have been killed in a huge explosion near a mining town in south-western Ghana, officials say.
Police say a vehicle carrying mining explosives collided with a motorcycle near the town of Bogoso.
Images shared by local media showed a large plume of black smoke rising above destroyed buildings and scattered debris as residents call for help.
Graphic videos showed mutilated bodies of victims. A large crater can also be seen beside a road.
“It’s almost like a ghost town now,” Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, a senior official from the country’s disaster management agency, told the AFP news agency.
He said about 500 houses were affected – some of which were completely destroyed – in Appiatse between Bogoso and the village of Bawdie.
At least 59 people were injured, some of whom were in a critical condition, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said the military had joined emergency efforts to help “contain the situation”, and “rapid relief” was being sent to residents.
“It is a truly sad, unfortunate and tragic incident,” he tweeted.
Rescue efforts were under way and people have been told to move out of the area.
