A high occupancy yutong bus transporting passengers from Tarkwa to Accra caught fire and burnt completely at Galaliea in the Ga South Municipality. Even though 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 fire service suggests the fire was ignited by fuel leakage.
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 Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra region.
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.
All occupants of the bus escaped unhurt but lost most of their luggage to the fire.
Here are some of them speaking to Mireku nyampong.
Preliminary investigations by the fire service suggest that the fire was ignited by leaked fuel that spilled on a hottest part of the engine.
According to sources gathered the bus was leaking fuel and the fault detected by the driver and even though the air conditioning system of the bus also malfunctioned the driver rather refueled the tank and continued the journey even against suggestions from passengers to park and have the fault rectified.
SOII Isaac Foli is operations commander at the Kasoa Fire Service and led firefighters to the scene.
He spoke to Mireku nyampong.
The situation has caused a huge traffic jam on the Kasoa-Galilea stretch of the N1 highway during the time.
