A tanker carrying natural gas exploded at 7:20 p.m. (1920 UTC) in a northern suburb of Ghana's capital Accra on Saturday evening, killing at least seven people and and wounding dozens of others. A second explosion followed minutes later.

A gas tanker is believed to have exploded at a state-owned GOIL liquefied natural gas station in the Legon suburb, causing a petrol station across the street to go up in flames near the city's Atomic Junction.

Ghana's Information Ministry said Sunday that 68 people were hospitalized following the accident and dozens of others were treated and released.

The two explosions sent a fireball into the night sky and could be heard across the city of some 7 million people.

"Unfortunately there are some fatalities and we are working to have the numbers," Deputy Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told a local radio station. "There are quite a number also injured."

More than 200 police personnel were deployed to help to cordon off the area.

Pictures from the scene showed charred out cars and debris scattered around the gas stations.

People ran for cover after the explosion

Legon is a suburb of the capital, and close to some hostels for the University of Ghana.

In 2015, more than 100 people were killed in an explosion at a petrol station in Accra used as a shelter by people escaping flooding.

Map of Ghana showing Accra

cw/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)