Drivers using the Tema Motorway are stuck in a heavy traffic as the police and Ghana National Fire Service officials tow a passenger bus that veered off the highway and plunged into a ditch on Sunday.
The Yutong Bus with registration number GE 857 Z skidded off the 19-kilometre highway that links the Port City to Ghana’s capital Accra at about 1.30am on Sunday. According to the Ghana Police 11 people were on board with personal effects, but one died at the Tema General Hospital.
Motorists on both sides of the motorway looked livid and frustrated as they spent hours on the highway without knowing the exact cause of the cosmetic traffic jam. Starr FM Online understands the time-consuming process in removing the passenger bus from the ditch triggered the gridlock that lasted for over three hours.
“It is a choked to the neck scene,” a frustrated passenger Linda Mensah told Starr FM Online. “I’m wondering when we’re going to get to the end of the motorway.”
The situation aggravated when the three-lane motorway suddenly metamorphosed into five when other commercial and private drivers decided to swerve via the shoulders of the motorway.
The Ashaiman Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) commander, Chief Inspector Stephen Kojo Tetteh, conceded in an interview with StarrFMOnline that “It’s a very tough scene to deal with but our men are there to ensure smooth flow of traffic.”
He said the police are still unable to determine the cause of the incident during the wee hours of Sunday since the driver of the vehicle and the other passengers are still in critical condition.
“We’ll be able to ascertain the true cause when we speak to those in the vehicle. For now we can’t tell. Maybe Monday morning we’ll be able to feed the public with some fresh information,” Chief Inspector Tetteh stated.
The Tema Motorway serves as the main and quickest route connecting the capital Accra and the Port City.
