A passenger bus collided with a cargo truck in west-central Ghana, killing at least 61 people, police in the West African nation said Thursday.
The crash happened Wednesday evening near the town of Kintampo, nearly halfway along the bus’s planned 390-kilometer (242-mile) trip from Kumasi to Tamale, police said.
Initial information indicates the bus had brake problems, according to police. Twenty-five people survived, said Chief Superintendent Desmond Owusu Boampong, commander of the Kintampo police; it wasn’t clear how many of those were injured.
Albert Azongo, a journalist with a local radio station, said the bus crashed head-on into the truck, which was carrying tomatoes.
“The collision was so intense, you could see the truck almost inside the bus. They were meshed together,” said Azongo, who arrived at the scene about 45 minutes after the crash.
The bus was carrying 81 people, and five people were in the truck. The bus had a roughly 50-passenger capacity, police said, and some of its passengers were standing before the crash.
Details on how many of the casualties were connected to each vehicle weren’t immediately available.
“We thought there was only one survivor, but doctors and nurses at the Kintampo hospital were able to revive some people. They had gone unconscious after the accident,” Azongo said.