A high occupancy Yutong Bus caught fire and burnt completely at Kasoa on Friday morning.
The bus with registration number GT 5190-17 and belonging to Imperial Express, a private-owned transport operator had over 49 passengers on board who were traveling from Tarkwa in the Western Region to Accra.
The bus, however, caught fire upon reaching Ngleshie Amanfrom in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
Although all passengers on board exited the vehicle safely before it was completely engulfed by flames, they lost several belongings to the fire.
Preliminary investigations by the Ghana National Fire Service suggest the fire was ignited by fuel leakage.
Metro News gathers there was a fuel leak and the driver detected the fault; as a result, the bus’s air conditioning system also malfunctioned; however, the driver refueled the tank and continued the journey, despite passengers suggestions to park and have the fault fixed.
Some occupants of the bus say they heard a blast sound from the rear part of the vehicle where the engine was installed and followed by flames.
Though the Kasoa Fire Service dispatched operation men to the scene on time upon receiving a distress call, they could salvage virtually nothing.
The Operations Commander at the Kasoa Fire Service, SOII Isaac Foli who led firefighters to the scene disclosed the driver flee after the incidence.
“We had a call at 4:08 am from FM station thus Regional that there is a fire involved a vehicular at Kasoa Amanfrom Jay Dee so we dispatched and got here around 04:13 am thus 4:13 am.
“When we came we realized a Yutong Bus which had passengers on board was on fire. They had escaped unhurt. The driver was nowhere to be found.
“The passengers said when they were coming they had a fuel leakage and instead of the driver to stop and check, he didn’t he rather went to the filling station to top the fuel so whilst they were coming there was still leakage.
“When they got to Kasoa Amanfrom Jay Dee they realized there was fire at the back of the bus so the driver instructed them to alight,” SOI Isaac Foli told Metro News.
Meanwhile, the situation has caused a huge traffic jam on the Kasoa-Galilea stretch of the N1 highway.
By: Akwasi Addo | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
