Eyewitness disputes Ebony's driver's account of what caused the fatal accident

The story of the driver of Dancehall diva Ebony Reigns as to how the gory accident which claimed the musician's life occurred has come under serious scrutiny following the latest eyewitness account of the incident.

Ebony died last Thursday night after the Jeep she was travelling in collided with a VIP bus at Nyamebekyere near Mankranso on the Sunyani-Kumasi Highway.

Out of the four people in Ebony's car, only her driver, Chartay Oko, survived and there reports that he was rushed to the hospital unconscious.

In his account of events leading to the tragedy, the driver had claimed that the accident happened because he had tried to save a Sprinter Bus from crashing.

After giving way to the Sprinter, he came upon a heap of sand which slid the Jeep into the path of the oncoming bus, Chartay Oko stated in an interview on his hospital bed.

But one Bernard Owusu, said to have been on the VIP bus on the ill-fated night, is giving a different account which contradicts that of Ebony's driver and suggests some form of recklessness on his part.

According to Bernard, the Jeep which was over speeding, veered off its lane to dodge the heap of chippings at Mankranso junction forcing the VIP driver to get of the road for the Jeep.



The reckless manner in which the Jeep got into their lane made the bus driver even insult the Jeep driver.

But after being given way, the Jeep came upon a "big pothole that almost covers the full stretch of the road which his car run into and lost the right front tyre due to the kind of speed he was driving at".

"At this point the Jeep bumped from the pothole and collided to the passenger side of the VIP bus" and somersaulted into the bush".

After the bus driver stabilized their car and stopped, the passengers on the bus rushed to rescue the people in the Jeep. They initially found three only three people in the car.

The driver was found conscious and on his feet though bleeding some moments later and he could not tell those around that Ebony was in the car before he was taken to the hospital.

Below is the full version of Bernard Owusu's account:



AN EYE WITNESS REPORT

This is how the accident that took the life of the late Ebony Reigns occurred on the night of February 8,2018.

It was around 10:24pm when I heard our VIP bus with registration number GT 3273 -17 shouting in a local dialect “Nkwasiasem ben na driver yi redi yi? meaning what kind of a foolish thing is this driver doing after he saw him overspeeding and missing his lane driving into ours.

The driver of the Jeep was driving on top speed from Sunyani to Kumasi,upon reaching Mankranso junction,he came face to face with the chippings on the road,there was a heap of chippings which I’m told has been there for something now due to the slow pace at which the contractor is repairing the road with.

He veered of his lane ie from sunyani to Kumasi road into that of the bus i.e Kumasi to Sunyani road in order to dodge the heap of chippings and that was where our driver made such pronouncement I stated earlier.

The VIP bus driver saw the impending danger and decided to leave our lane and give space for the Jeep to pass to avoid collision.



Things didn’t go well for Ebony’s driver as there’s a big pothole ‘that almost covers the full stretch of the road’ which his car run into and lost the right front tyre due to the kind of speed he was driving at.

At this point the Jeep bumped from the pothole and collided to the passenger side of the VIP bus.

The Jeep summersaults into the bush glory be to God the bus driver keeps a stiff hold of the steering until he stops by the side of the road at Mankranso to prevent us also from crashing.

The screen of the VIP clashes, springs into the bus and gives some bruises on face of the conductor. I had a little cut on my left foot as well.

We managed to get out of our bus and run to the rescue of the passengers in the Jeep. With the help of two ropes we turned it over onto its wheels and found only 3(THREE) BODIES IN THE CAR.



A SOLDIER IN A UNIFORM AT THE FRONT, TWO FEMALES AT THE BACK AND NO DRIVER. AND I REPEAT “NO DRIVER” IN THE CAR.

We assume he might be in the bush so let’s look for him with help of touchlights. I heard someone saying is this the bus driver,when he saw a man bleeding by the side of the road.

We approached him and asked are you the Jeep driver?he answered yes and he was on his feet when we saw him. As to how he got out of the car,none of us who were there to do the rescue knows about it and only the surviving Driver can tell.



I told Ebony’s driver to lie on the road so he slows down bleeding, he did and many questions started coming from unlookers but answers were not forthcoming so with secured a car to take him to the hospital.He couldn’t tell us Ebony was in the car.

Various calls were made to the fire service,police and ambulance for help and they came.

Till then none of us knew who those three dead passengers were even as I touched their pulse to check if I could find them alive. Few minutes after the police and the other rescue team arrived, two big trucks drove into each other at the same accident scene we were standing.

This will be around 12am in the morning. We had to run for shelter as it wasn’t safe there anymore.

A VIP bus came from Sunyani to pick us and the amusing part was that this bus is the same bus that sold my seat to another passenger for GHC70 instead of GHC50 after I had told the conductor I was going to the washroom.”