A 37-year-old nursing mother, Joana, and her six-month-old Baby were among survivors of Saturday, June 15 fatal accident which occurred at Asitey portion of the Odumase to Oterkpolu road which killed seven passengers at the spot.
The baby miraculously survived the accident unblemished, though had to be resuscitated shortly after the accident. The mother, however, was injured and on admission at Atua Government Hospital.
The 37-year-old nursing mother and her child was part of some 61 parishioners of the Saint Barbara Catholic Church in Akosombo returning from a funeral.
They were aboard a Daewoo bus with registration number GV 2497—14 owned by the Volta River Authority (VRA).
The bus was returning from Akim Oda where the 61 parishioners including the nursing mother and the child had attended a funeral. The bus reportedly failed brake whilst descending the Asitey mountains, somersaulting several times before finally landing into a ditch, killing three adult males and four females on the respectively.
Forty-eight others sustained various degrees of injuries and rushed to St. Martins Depores and Atua Government Hospitals with those in a critical condition referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua.
Some of the survivors in an interview with Starr News revealed that the Bus was faulty and the non-functioning of the break compelling the driver to make many stopovers on the road and even at a mechanic shop. But the fault could not be immediately fixed, that notwithstanding the driver kept assuring the passengers he could manage the situation.
According to the survivors, the driver completely lost control of the steering wheel while descending the steep-slope curvy mountainous portion of the road, running into a ditch.
“While returning from the funeral, in the middle of the journey the Bus developed mechanical fault so the driver stopped at a fitting shop which the mechanics diagnosed the problem under the bus,” they told Starr News’ Eastern Regional Correspondent Kojo Ansah.
“We are told the mechanics told the driver to find another vehicle for us but the driver said he will manage the situation. So, while coming we could smell something but the driver kept assuring us that it was the break which was smelling.
“We noticed the driver was struggling to ascend the hills on the road when he was descending too we noticed the bus assumed abnormal speed which the driver couldn’t control and by a whisker, the Bus runs into a ditch.”
The Deputy Director of Nursing Services at the Atua Government hospital, Marylove Nai Williams said out of the 40 casualties who were rushed to the facility on June 15, ten were still on admission with others either referred to other hospitals or discharged as at Monday, June 17.
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi has accused the Ghana National Ambulance Service of failing to attend to accident victims on that fateful day over lack of fuel compelling rescue team to transport the injured in Pick Up buckets and commercial vehicles endangering their chances of survival.
The MP for Asuogyaman, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, visited the injured at the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua to commiserate with them.
The MP expressed his condolences to the bereaved families, VRA and the Catholic Church who lost their loved ones.
Meanwhile, Starr News has gathered that VRA has towed the accident bus to its garage instead of Odumase Police station to aid police investigations.
Sources indicate that VRA has three of such buses all having brake challenges. A few months ago, one of such buses failed brake and crashed at Akosombo township traffic light.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
