Explosion rips through Ghanaian petrol station killing at least 90 people after floodwater washes fuel into a fire while the victims were sheltering from torrential rain

An explosion ripped through a petrol station in Ghana, killing at least 90 people and leaving a gruesome scene with charred bodies and neighbouring buildings burning through the night.

The blast was caused when floodwater washed stored fuel into a nearby fire while the victims were sheltering from torrential rain in the capital, Accra, officials said today.

'This loss of life is catastrophic and almost unprecedented,' a visibly shaken President John Dramani Mahama said at the scene. 'A lot of people have lost their lives and I am lost for words.'

Pictures posted online showed the gas station ablaze with a thick, black plume of smoke billowing hundreds of feet into the sky.

Graphic footage aired on national television also showed bodies being piled into the back of a pick-up truck and other charred remains trapped amid the debris, with the floodwater waist deep.