President Nana Akufo-Addo has expressed grief over the “horrific” accident at Kintampo that has claimed at least 57 lives.
Speaking at the annual end-of-year get-together of the West Africa Security Service Association (WASSA) of the Ghana Police Service on Friday, 22 March 2019, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “My sympathies and condolences go to all the families and loved ones of the deceased. May the Almighty grant their souls peaceful rest”.
Scores of passengers on two huge buses, one, a VVIP bus and the other, an old bus, perished in a ghastly head-on collision that happened on the Techiman-Kintampo road around 4 a.m. on Friday at Ampomakrom within the Pamdu Electoral Area of the Bono East Region.
The ill-fated buses had registration numbers GT 5694 – 18 and the other GT 3916 – 17.
One of the buses was headed to the northern part of Ghana from Kumasi while the other was headed in the opposite direction.
The Assemblyman for the area, Mr Albert Pimbo, told ClassFMmonline.com that 57 have so far been confirmed dead.
But a local reporter at Kintampo, Mark Abbrey, told Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show host Benjamin Akakpo that he could count more than 70 bodies.
According to him, while some died on the spot, others perished at the hospitals they were rushed to for emergency treatment.
The cause of the accident is not yet known but Mr Pimbo suspects one of the drivers may have been dozing off.
While one of the buses got burnt completely after the crash, the other had one of its sides completely mangled and dislocated from the front side to the posterior.
Some of the passengers, according to Mr Pimbo, were incinerated in the blaze that engulfed the bus.
Each bus, he said, carried more than 50 people, and, so, expressed fears that the number of casualties would shoot up.
The police and fire officers rushed to the scene to rescue survivors, rush them to the Techiman Holy family and Jema Government hospitals for emergency care while the dead were conveyed to the morgues.
Source: classfmonline.com
