Disaster struck yesterday as four persons were burnt to death and 25 others sustained various degrees of injury when fire gutted a pre-mix fuel distribution centre at Brawie, a suburb of Axim in the Western Region.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the fire, which started around 10:00am, trapped three of the deceased persons in the pre-mix distribution room, burning them to death.

The other person was reported dead at the hospital while some of the injured persons were in critical condition.

A number of valuable items including a taxi cab which was stationed near the centre and many big drums full of pre-mix fuel were also destroyed in the fire out-break.

Earlier reports suggested that a premix fuel tanker off-loading fuel for the fisher-folk exploded when it caught fire from a nearby generator.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that but for the timely intervention of the personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service at Axim, the fire would have spread to other buildings to destroy more lives and properties.

The charred bodies of the three deceased persons who had not been identified, were deposited at the Axim Government Hospital morgue while some of the injured persons were admitted at the same hospital. Other injured persons were referred to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Even though the cause of the fire was not immediately known, reliable sources at the fishing community told DAILY GUIDE that the inferno was caused by an ignition from a socket at the centre while the distribution of the fuel was going on.