Another 207 Bus In An Accident

One week after the Akropong Junction disaster which claimed 35 lives, another 207 Mercedes Benz passenger bus loaded with funeral-bound mourners has crashed into an articulated truck, killing two and injuring 21 others at the Yaa Asantewaa Secondary School Junction in Kumasi.

The near photocopy of the Akropong Junction tragedy occurred last Friday night and preliminary police investigations have blamed the 207 driver for the accident.

A national debate is currently going on over the suitability or otherwise of the 207 buses for carrying passengers.

In the Friday accident, the driver, whose name was not immediately known, was said to have ignored the oncoming truck and attempted turning to the other side of the road, resulting in the accident.

The bodies of the deceased, both women, have been deposited at the morgue of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), while the injured are receiving treatment at the same hospital.

The police were not able to disclose the identities of the dead and the injured.

The Ashanti Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) James Sarfo-Peprah, who visited the scene of the accident, told the Daily Graphic that the 207 bus was carrying mourners from Ahafo Kenyasi to Asonomaso in the Ashanti Region, while the articulated truck was heading towards Abuakwa from Kumasi.

According to the Regional MTTU Commander, when the 207 bus reached the Yaa Asantewaa Secondary School Junction at Tanoso, the driver attempted to enter a filling station opposite the school.

That was at the time the articulated truck, which had its headlights on, was also getting very close to the filling station.

DSP Sarfo-Peprah stated that just when the 207 bus tried to turn to the other side, the truck ran into it, killing the two persons on the spot.

Rescuers managed to remove the dead and the injured from the mangled body of the bus .