At least 35 persons who were burnt to death on Friday when two high occupancy commercial vehicles crashed head-on near Kintampo in the Bono East Region have been given mass burial.
Fifty-six persons have been confirmed dead in the accident involving the two buses which were carrying a total of 108 passengers. Fifty-two others, including three children, suffered varied degrees of injuries.
Police and local government authorities say most of them were burnt beyond recognition, something that necessitated the mass burial at the Jema cemetery Saturday morning.
The burial supervised by the police, chiefs, sanitation and other local government officials, was attended by persons whose relatives were involved in the gory accident but could identify their bodies.
Most of the deceased who were in the bus that went up in flames when it collided, are said to be residents of Garu and its environs in the Upper East Region.
They were travelling from Garu to Kumasi in a GPRTU managed bus registered GT5694-18 when their bus collided head-on with a VVIP bus registered GT-3916-17 at Ampomakurom near Jema at about 2:00am Friday.
The intensity of the collision caused the Kumasi-bound bus to spark fire killing the occupants.
District Chief Executive for Garu, Emmanuel Asore who witnessed the mass burial Saturday told 3news.com “it’s a dark day for us all,” noting he lost a family member while his presiding member lost five relatives in the accident.
He said the whole of the Upper East region is morning with the families of the deceased, noting a memorial service and a vigil will be organised for the dead.
Mr Asore said “close to 35 of the victims were burnt beyond recognition”.
However, he revealed seven persons who were among those burnt to death have as of Saturday morning been identified by their relatives and have been released the bodies to them for burial.
“We believe it is designed by God so we accept it,” Mr Asore said, adding the latest ghastly accident should be a wakeup call to government, the police and the people of Ghanaian to take steps to prevent some of these carnage on our roads.
He underscored the need for vehicles to undergo proper checks before being released to ply on the roads and also asked transport operators to always ensure they have two drivers on a bus for long distances to avoid driver fatigue.
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Source: 3news.com
