A head on collision of two long buses has left several passengers dead and a lot more in critical condition near Kintampo in the Bono East Region.
Police confirmed 57 people are dead in the accident, and noted some of the victims were burnt beyond recognition as one of the buses went up in flames due to the magnitude of the collision.
Survivors weree been rescued from the accident scene to various hospitals within the Techiman and Kintampo enclave for emergency medical attention, witnesses told our correspondent Larry Paa Kwesi Moses.
According to the eyewitness, some of the perished were trapped in one of the bus.
Personnel from the Police and Fire Service were called in to remove the bodies splayed out on the road. They also moved the buses from road to ensure free flow of traffic.
The accident, said to have happened in the wee hours of Friday at about 1:30am at Ampomakrom, near Jema on the Kintampo-Techiman road, involved a VVIP bus with registration GT 3915-17 and a Kia Grandbird bus registered GT 5694-18.
The stretch has in recent time recorded a number of gory accidents.
Confirming the accident to 3news.com, Kintampo Municipal Fire Commander DO3 Ankomah Twene said preliminary investigations suggested driver of the VVIP bus was responsible for the accident as he was said to be dossing off during the journey.
Passengers on the bus were said to have earlier asked the driver to park and take a nap, but he rejected the idea insisting he could continue the journey without taking a rest.
Most of the passengers in the VVIP bus, the Commander said, were in critical condition and taken to the Jema District Hospital, the Kintampo Municipal Hospital and the Techiman Municipal Hospital for emergency treatment.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana