Four people were killed when a fuel tank exploded at an Indian cement factory outside Togo's capital, Lome, the country's security minister said today.
"Six workers were carrying out welding work on the roof of the tank when the tragedy happened. A total of four people died," Colonel Yark Damehame told AFP.
The blast yesterday at the West African Cement (WACEM) plant in Tabligbo, some 75 kilometres north of Lome, left one worker seriously injured and in intensive care.
The sixth worker, an Indian national, was missing and a search was underway, Damehame said.
A staff representative at the plant, Emmanuel Montcho, said the Indian national was the foreman and that 13 workers in total had been working to repair the tank before the explosion.
The scene has been cordoned off, he added, and security forces are keeping watch over the factory.
"We're really shocked," Kodjovi Sedonou, deputy head of mining union Sydemines, told AFP.
"For the moment, we haven't planned any protests but people are furious.
"Living and working conditions are very difficult in this factory. There are no security measures on site, which repeatedly leads to work accidents."
WACEM, an Indian company that has been based in Togo since 1996 and employs more than 900 workers there, was unavailable for comment.
