More than 30 people have sustained various degrees of injury after a bus they were travelling on, veered off the road and fell into a huge drain near Circle in Accra.
The vehicle which was carrying about fifty passengers, more than the stipulated number it should carry, was travelling on the Odokor-Kaneshie route to Circle.
Passersby had to break into the windscreen of the bus to rescue the trapped passengers.
When Citi visited the scene, one of the eyewitnesses, Anim, narrated that the incident happened around 7:45 am on Monday after the driver had dropped off a passenger at a bus stop near the State Transport Corporation.
“I noticed the car coming from the Kaneshie roundabout towards Circle, fully loaded with some of the passengers standing in it. After dropping off some of them at the STC bus stop, the driver decided to move but all of a sudden the car had veered off the road. We began screaming until it fell into the ditch.”
When the incident happened, the door to the exit fell into the ditch, leaving no exit for passengers to evacuate.
Ntim explains that “we couldn’t break the glass door so we had to force the windscreen open and evacuate the passengers. There were lots of school children and workers rushing to come out of the bus. Most of them sustained various degrees of injury but there was no ambulance service so they lingered around for the pain to subdue and they left.”
One of the victims, Sheila, narrated how she now feels pain in her thighs and leg as many of the other passengers stepped on her to come out of the bus.
“I picked the car from Awoshie last-stop heading to work at Osu. When the incident happened, we were pulled out from the windscreen. The driver was the first person to leave and I followed after because I was near the glass. My legs and thighs hurt badly now because some of the passengers were stepping on them. I don’t think I would pick this car again.”
Meanwhile, police officers have gone to the scene to inspect the vehicle to be towed.
There have been several concerns about the rickety nature of these buses often called space buses.
But the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), has often pointed accusing fingers at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, saying, it is their responsibility to keep such vehicles off the roads.
When Citi contacted the Secretary of the Circle Branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) Richard Nimoh, he said the union has given the drivers up to the end of the year to have those cars replaced and keep the buses off the streets.
Credit: Citifmonline
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