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General News of Monday, 14 March 2011

Source: Daily Guide

Two Women Die A Horrific Death

Two women died a horrific death in the early hours of last Saturday when a 53-seater Yutong Bus in which they were travelling mysteriously veered off the road, hit against a gutter, fell on its side, and slid along the road.

The bus, which was travelling from Kumasi to Aflao, met with this unfortunate accident at Kave near Dzodze in the Ketu South District of the Volta Region.

The dead, a young lady believed to be in her early 20s and a woman in her late 40s, had been deposited at the mortuary of the St Anthony’s Catholic Hospital at Dzodze. Their bodies were yet to be identified.

The other passengers, numbering about 48, who suffered various degrees of injury, had been treated and discharged from the same hospital as at yesterday. It was unclear what might have caused this latest accident on the road which is under construction by the China Geo Engineering Corporation.

Earlier this year, three people were killed on the same stretch of road. Some passengers and eyewitnesses who spoke to DAILY GUIDE said they suspected that the driver of the Yutong bus with registration number GN2783-10 might have been sleeping, considering the fact that most of the passengers were asleep at the time of the accident.

The passengers revealed that the bus, which left Kumasi at about 9.00pm on Friday, got to Dzodze around 4:30 am, and that the driver who was manning the bus alone, had had little rest during the entire journey.

A passenger said, “We were all tired after that long drive, so most of us had slept. When the accident happened, all we could see was that the bus had veered off and all of us were thrown into the bush as the bus fell on its side and continued to move amidst loud screams.”

One of the injured passengers, Mwankwa Chinonso, a Nigerian, told DAILY GUIDE that he was also sleeping at the time of the incident and had it not been for God, he would have died.

Mwankwa, who could not hide his gratitude to God, noted that “for a moment I felt lost and thought that was the end of my life, but God being so good I did not sustain any major injury.”

Daily Guide gathered that as at 8:30am yesterday morning, the police, assisted by some good Samaritans including China Geo Construction Corporation personnel, were still removing and securing the personal effects and luggage of the 50 passengers aboard the bus to avoid pilfering by unscrupulous persons.

The Chinese company was also helping the police to pull out the damaged bus from the bush.

The Ketu North District Police Commander, DSP Akwesi Asafo-Adjei, told DAILY GUIDE that the police did everything possible to protect the luggage and other personal effects of the passengers.

He said investigations had started to ascertain the cause of the accident.

DSP Asafo-Adjei used the opportunity to advise long distance drivers to ensure they get enough rest before driving in order not to sleep behind the steering wheel. The driver was treated and discharged and helping the police in their investigations, as at the time of filing this report.The bus had since been parked at the Dzodze Police Station.