Vodafone’s Black Tuesday: Four houses burnt due to system failure

Residents of Kromoase New Site in Kumasi were unable to contact the Fire Service due to the faulty Vodafone network services, and as a result, they watched on helplessly as four shops and a car were burnt to the ground.
For close to three hours, residents fought to bring the fire under control after realising their lines weren’t working. Two siblings who were asleep in one of the shops at the time of the incident narrowly escaped unhurt.
A reporter at the scene contacted the Ghana National Fire Service Regional Public Relations Officer Fire Officer Desmond Ackah on his personal MTN line. The PRO got back later to confirm he wasn’t getting through to any fire office in the region.
Mr Ackah later apologised for the occurrence blaming it on the poor communication network.
He said: “I must apologise for us not being able to turn up. Unfortunately early this morning we had problems with our lines especially with that of Vodafone. I received the call and tried getting to the nearest fire station and all the other stations but the calls weren’t just going through.”
Mr Ackah appealed to residents to report all fire incidents directly to their office due to network failure.