At least six people have been burnt to death when a passenger bus caught fire at the Police Barrier at Akomadan on the Offinso-Nkenkaasu road, in the Ashanti Region.
This comes just a day after 17 people perished with 16 others seriously injured in an accident that occurred at Offinso Abofour on Monday.
A bus loaded with passengers from Techiman heading to Kumasi crashed into a Kia truck and the bus caught fire.
The Akomadan District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Gyasi Agyeman, confirmed on a local radio station here, and explained that the accident occurred at around 4:30am on Tuesday.
He explained that “a bus loaded with passengers from Nandom to Kumasi with registration number GT 4215 – 17 crashed into a parked Kia towing car with registration number GT 6983 – 12”.
DSP Gyasi said “about 25 were able to escape but five of them were trapped and burnt beyond recognition”.
“You could see their bodies in the vehicles. Five are dead beyond recognition. The injured have been rushed to the hospital,” he said.
The Commander said “according to the passengers, some alighted at Techiman, Kintampo and other places, along the road so it was not a fully loaded bus”.
“We can say for a fact because they could see the bodies from the vehicles. At the time the fire service was able to quench the fire, the five people had been burnt. It is a VIP type passenger bus that could take about 40 plus passengers”.
He said the driver of the towing car was safe, and one of those burnt was behind the steering of the bus so “we presume that he was the driver”.
DSP Agyeman said the driver was alleged to be speeding because my men flashed him to stop at the checkpoint but he refused.
According to the police, “some of the passengers even said they got angry with him for the reckless driving, so a few metres after the checkpoint, he ran into the truck”.
DSP Agyeman said he resumed office just on Monday as the District Police Commander: “I just resumed office yesterday as the District Commander and this is my welcome address.”
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
