With our special correspondent in Kraké, Jean-Luc Aplogan
The fire, whose origin is still unknown, occurred in a 1,000 square meter hydrocarbon warehouse. An initial report indicates 35 deaths. “They are men and women. There is at least one child among the bodies. Three people with burns were evacuated. Motorcycles and vehicles were consumed,” explains Lieutenant Colonel Dalys Ahouangbénon, number 2 of the fire brigade group.
Several witnesses said they heard an explosion shortly before 10 a.m., before the fire. Motorcycles and cars that used to transport fuel, the roof, the gate, nothing could withstand the flames. Several hours later, ash was still smoking on the ground. The most horrific images are those of charred bodies. Only the bones indicate that these are the victims. The whole village gathers in front of the warehouse. “It’s a bloody Saturday,” says one resident. “Too sad, the village is mourning, it’s deplorable,” complains a heartbroken Georges Agossou, representative of the village chief.
Worried families
The magnitude of the tragedy drew a crowd, including affected relatives. A driver is looking for his younger brother Shegun, who works in the warehouse, about whom he has no news: “He’s dead, he’s not dead, I don’t know.” I tried to contact him several times without success. I was told to go to the hospital, I walked around, I went to Porto-Novo, there is no trace of Shegun. » A man in his forties has not found his wife. The same goes for a tearful mother searching for her missing daughter.
The smuggling warehouse is not hidden, it is located in the middle of several shops. There is a daily pineapple market nearby. Since the fire it has been guarded and access is no longer possible. Judicial and scientific police officers will intervene before collecting the remains of the bodies.
Ministers, opposition figures and elected officials from the region came to the scene of the tragedy. The prefect of the department, Marie Akpotrossou, said after her visit to the warehouse: “It is a feeling of dismay that drives me, it is sad.” »
Romuald Wadagni, the Minister of State for Finance, who went to the bedside of the injured, promised to bring together those involved in the fuel trade next week to present them with a government restructuring program. “It is a dangerous, illegal activity, but the people who run this trade do it because they have no other choice.” For this reason, a few months ago the government decided on an integration and retraining program for these actors. »
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