A series of explosions at a gas bottling plant in an industrial zone outside Banjul caused a scare among residents of the nearby Kanifing Estate on Sunday evening.
People living in and around Kanifing Estate, 11km south of the Gambian capital could be seen packing and attempting to flee as the ensuing fire ravaged the gas complex and some adjoining businesses located about two miles away.
There was no business activity at the time of the explosions, the cause of which has not been determined.
There was no reported human casualty.
Residents interviewed by the African Press Agency spoke of intermittent explosions around 21.00hrs on Sunday at the bottling plant located off the main highway to Banjul.
“People were packing and leaving their homes for what they thought were safer parts of the area including some elderly residents who could barely walk” said one man who wished to remain anonymous.
Aside from the bottling plant, rows of businesses including furniture shops were caught up in the inferno.
There were still plumes of smoke issuing from the smouldering wreckage of the buildings caught up in the explosions.
Several cars parked in the area were completely gutted.
The estimated cost of the destruction to property has been put at tens of millions of dalasi.
Firefighters from The Gambia Fire Brigade had rushed to the scene and battled the flames for at least an hour before they could be brought under control, a witness among a crowd of onlookers who had gathered near the scene on Monday morning said.
President Adama Barrow still fresh from attending the maiden Russia-Africa Forum in Sochi visited the scene on Monday and promised that his government will investigate the cause of the incident.
WN/as/APA