Six people have been confirmed dead, burnt beyond recognition, after a Daewoo passenger bus collided with a Kia towing truck on the Offinso-Techiman road in the Bono Region. In addition, 25 others managed to escape the crash and were taken to a nearby health center for treatment. The bodies of the deceased are being retrieved by personnel from the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service.
The Akomadan District Police Commander, DSP Gyasi Agyeman, shared details of the incident during an interview on 3FM’s Sunrise show hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Tuesday. He explained that the accident occurred around 4:30 am, when a bus traveling from Nandom to Kumasi, with registration number GT 4215-17, crashed into a parked Kia Towing truck (registration number GT 6983-12).
DSP Agyeman stated that while 25 passengers were able to flee the scene, five individuals were trapped in the wreckage and were burnt beyond recognition. “You could see their bodies inside the vehicles,” he noted. The victims were presumed to have been in the bus when the fire broke out, and unfortunately, the five fatalities could not be saved.
The commander clarified that the bus was not fully loaded, as some passengers had disembarked at various points along the route, including Techiman and Kintampo. “We can confirm this because we saw the bodies in the vehicles. When the fire service arrived and managed to put out the flames, the five individuals had already been burnt,” he added. The bus, described as a VIP-type passenger vehicle, had a capacity of around 40 passengers.
Regarding the incident, DSP Agyeman explained that the driver of the towing truck was unharmed, but one of the victims, believed to have been the bus driver, was found behind the steering wheel of the bus. “The bus driver is presumed to be one of the fatalities,” he said.
It was also revealed that the bus driver had been speeding. According to DSP Agyeman, police officers had attempted to flag down the driver at a checkpoint, but he ignored their signal to stop. “Some passengers even complained about his reckless driving, and shortly after our checkpoint, he crashed into the truck,” the commander explained.
DSP Gyasi Agyeman, who had only recently assumed his position as District Police Commander, described the tragic incident as his “welcome address” to the office, emphasizing the severity of the crash and the ongoing investigations into its cause.
