The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has initiated an official investigation into the fatal accident that occurred at Dompoase near Komenda Junction on the main Cape Coast-Takoradi Highway in the Central Region.

According to a press statement issued by the Authority on Wednesday, the investigation is to identify the contributing factors that caused the incident that claimed many lives.

The investigative committee will subsequently propose measures and remedies to prevent a recurrence of the accident.

“The Authority has, pursuant to its mandate, commissioned a multi-disciplinary investigation into the crash to determine the contributory factors and institutional lapses that may have accounted for the crash,” the press statement read.

A head-on collision involving two Yutong buses at the Dompoase Junction near Komenda Junction has led to the death of 35 people including three children, with about 54 people injured.

The incident happened in the wee hours of Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

“The bodies of the 35 deceased victims comprising of 21 males, 11 females and three toddlers have been deposited at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital morgue awaiting identification, autopsy and collection,” the NRSA statement said.

The Authority further assured the public that it will implement firm steps to control operations of commercial road transport organisations.

THIRTY-FIVE (35) DIE IN CENTRAL REGION CRASH

The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) can confirm that two buses were involved in a road traffic incident during the early hours of Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at about 12:10 am at Dompoase near the Komenda Junction on the main Cape Coast – Takoradi highway in the Central Region. The total fatalities (deaths) arising from the road traffic crash as of this morning is thirty-five (35) with twenty-five (25) cases of varied degrees of injuries still on admission and twenty-nine (29) have been treated and discharged.

Preliminary investigations can further confirm that the vehicles involved were public service transport vehicles operated by GPRTU from the Kaneshie and Takoradi (Accra) terminals. They were a Hyundai bus with registration number GN 3780-10 and a Man Diesel bus with registration number GR 5704-18 that were travelling from Accra to Takoradi and Takoradi to Accra respectively and collided head-on at the accident scene.

Currently, the injured are receiving varied treatments at the Effia Nkwanta and the Cape Coast Teaching Hospitals. The bodies of the thirty-five (35) deceased victims comprising of twenty-one (21) males, eleven (11) females and three (3) toddlers have been deposited at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital morgue awaiting identification, autopsy and collection.

While we commiserate with the families of victims of this incident, the Authority has pursuant to its mandate commissioned a multi-disciplinary crash investigation into the crash to determine the contributory factors and institutional lapses that may have accounted for the crash. This among others will inform remedial actions and measures.

The Authority will wish to assure the motoring public that, it is taking appropriate steps to exert some control on the operations of commercial (passenger and freight) road transport organisations. These steps include a vigorous sensitization of the operators of the new mandate of the Authority, training of some 13,000 high-risk commercial drivers as well as the development of a Legislative Instrument for the regulation of road transport operations pursuant to the National Road Safety Authority Act, 2019 (Act 993).

In the interim, the public is reminded that road safety is a way of life that can be achieved by observing basic safety precautions on speeding, wrongful overtaking, fatigue and distractive driving, while passengers are expected to assume frontline roles by speaking up against driver misbehavior.

Thank you.

Issued by the National Road Safety Authority.