Grace Akosua Asamoah, a survivor of an accident on the Jukwa-Cape Coast Highway in the Central region has given a chilling account.
The accident she said claimed six lives and left many others with critical injuries.
Recounting what happened that fateful Monday, March 15, 2021, Grace said even before help could arrive for the distressed passengers, all they could do was to helplessly lie at the scene.
In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Thursday, Akosua Gold as she is popularly known narrated that, the driver of the Sprinter bus she was travelling in was dozing behind the steering wheel.
“I was working at the Jukwa District office by then as the Secretary to the DCE. That morning, I received a distress call from my friend that her mum was sick and as the only dependant, she was also indisposed and needed my help.
“I asked permission from work and set off to Cape Coast. In the car, I sat on a seat behind the driver and after a while, I looked through the rearview mirror and realised he was dozing off,” she recalled.
Grace said she alerted the driver but he denied it and instead, adjusted the mirror so she could no longer see his face.
“None of the passengers said anything after I sounded the alarm and shortly, the driver increased his speed,” she said.
Upon arrival on a section of the road between Nyinasin and Efutu, the car’s tyre burst, causing it to somersault several times as the driver lost control.
According to her, even though she was not asleep when the incident happened, she did not see how the accident happened because it occurred so quickly.
“I was told the victims were conveyed to the hospital but I was left behind because I went out of the window and fell under a palm tree. But for someone who came to urinate and saw me, I would have died.
“He called for help and brought me to the road side but no driver was willing to offer help because of how critical the situation was. Finally, we had a commercial vehicle and I was kept at the booth because they thought I was dead,” she narrated.
As fate will have it, she woke up in the ICU and for weeks, the hospital workers catered for her medication and feeding because her family hadn’t found her yet.
Grateful to God for a second chance at life, Akosua has taken it upon herself to be a road safety advocate.
She has emphasised the traumatic psychological effects road accidents have on survivors, expressing her hope that Ghana can significantly reduce road crashes, fatalities, and injuries.
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