Two dead, four injured after tipper truck crashes into Nigerian bus on Elubo-Takoradi Highway

Two people have died and four others have been injured after a Nigerian passenger bus collided head-on with a tipper truck at Abease on the Elubo-Takoradi Highway in the Western Region.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) said the crash involved a Sinotruck (Howo) with registration number GS 3789-24 and a Nigerian passenger bus with registration number AAA 449 YN (Lagos).

The Fire Service said it received a distress call at 11:53 a.m. on Friday, June 26, and quickly sent a rescue team from the Half Assini Fire Station to the scene.

A five-member rescue team led by Assistant Divisional Officer II (ADO II) Clement Arthur and accompanied by Assistant Divisional Officer I (ADO I) Issifu Dauda Kaku arrived within six minutes.

They found five passengers from the bus and one person from the tipper truck trapped inside the wreckage.

The GNFS said some bystanders had already rescued three victims before firefighters arrived.

The rescue team later removed the remaining victims from the damaged vehicles and took four injured persons to the Elubo Government Hospital for treatment.

The driver of the Nigerian bus was pronounced dead at the scene, while the mate of the tipper truck later died at the hospital. Their bodies have been deposited at the hospital morgue.

Initial findings by the Fire Service suggest that the crash happened after the bus driver allegedly swerved to avoid a pothole, moved into the opposite lane and crashed into the oncoming tipper truck.

After the rescue operation, firefighters disconnected the batteries of both vehicles, cooled the overheated engine area to prevent a fire and cleared the road of debris to allow traffic to flow again.

Authorities are expected to continue investigations into the cause of the accident.