Fourteen (14) passengers on board a Ford Bus with the registration number GW 6628 – 21 have been burnt to death in an accident that occurred on the Takoradi – Accra road at Asemasa near Beposo in the Shama District of the Western Region.
The accident which involved a truck loaded with stones and a Ford Bus occurred in the afternoon of Tuesday, March 22.
Eyewitnesses report that there was a head-on collision between the two vehicles before they caught fire.
Chief Superintendent Isaac Sokpah, Western Regional Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Division (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service who briefed the media said reports gathered by the police indicate that the Ford Bus was coming from Tarkwa in the Western Region while the Truck was coming from Cape Coast in the Central Region.
He said the tire of the Truck got blasted when initiating a curve at Asemasa and caused an imbalance to the Truck leading to the accident which sparked the fire.
He added that with the intervention of the personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the fire was put off.
However, he narrated that all fourteen passengers on board the Ford Bus comprising ten males and four females including a Chinese national got burnt beyond recognition.
C/Supt. Sokpah added that all the bodies have so far been retrieved and conveyed to the Central Regional Hospital Morgue for preservation and autopsy.
Meanwhile, he announced that the driver of the Truck and a passenger survived but were in critical condition and were rushed to the Central Regional Hospital for treatment.
He, therefore, called on the public especially, families whose relatives travelled today from Tarkwa to make enquiries at the Tarkwa Station to find out which of the vehicles their relatives boarded so as to follow up on them.
C/Supt. Sokpah also urged the families to trace the bodies at the Central Regional Hospital Morgue where the bodies were sent for identification.
