11 Ghanaian pupils escape death as school bus catches fire

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Students were forced to flee a burning bus after it burst into flames.

The coach, carrying 11 pupils and three teachers from Western Link Educational Complex in the Wenchi Municipality, caught fire on the Wenchi-Akrobi road.

The pupils had closed from weekend classes Saturday afternoon and were being transported to their various homes when the incident occured.

Schoolchildren ran from the bus as flames and smoke billowed into the air after the vehicle veered off the road and sommersaulted into a nearby bush.

“They had all got off pretty quickly and started panicking, it was pretty scary”, reported DailyMailGh’s Nana Anfreh Damanta.

Anfreh also reported that the fire damaged the majority of the bus, especially the middle and back sections of the vehicle.

It is believed the blaze began after the steering wheel got locked, which caused a mechanical fault.

The road was partially closed while fire fighters worked to extinguish the blaze after they were called to the scene.

Speaking to DailyMailGh, Wenchi Municipal Fire Commander ADO 1 John Oppong Kusi said investigations have begun to ascertain the cause of the fire.

“The vehicle had an accident and it caught fire… All the 15 people were rescued. So far two teachers, the driver and one of the children suffered minor injuries but they have since been treated and discharged. For now the vehicle is completely burnt beyond repairs”, he narrated.

He added: “This could have been a fatal accident and so we have planned to engage stakeholders including the police to avoid such occurences”.

At the time of filing this report, the vehicle with registration number BW 31—19, was still at the accident scene.

Source: Daily Mail GH