VIP bus razed by fire at Bolga main lorry station

Correspondence from Upper East Region

Last night, a VIP bus at the Bolgatanga lorry station was gutted by fire.

The incident happened close to the Bawku lorry station.

The sad incident is said to have started around twelve midnight.

The fire was said to have sparked as a result of wires in the car connecting the wrong way.

GhanaWeb's Sarah Dubure caught up with a driver, Mr Shamona Mohammed, who gave an eyewitness account of the incident.

He indicated that the fire blew up all of a sudden from inside, and assumed it was a wire problem.

"It is a wiring problem because we all just saw the fire in front of the car, so we don't know how it started". He recalled.

He pointed out that he saw several people trying to reach the Ghana National Fire Service to no avail

"I witnessed people who called about three or five people, and even finally one of our brothers even picked a car and went to the office to call them". He said

Mr. Shamona pointed out that if they had come on time, the situation would not have aggravated.

He blamed the situation on the rampant pranks played on the Fire Service by unscrupulous people.

"You know, the problem is, some may call them to deceive them so sometimes they may not take the call seriously because people call them and when they get there, they are nothing," he pointed.

He called on the general public to desist from that practice, as it was causing so much harm.

"I will advise the people, we should tell the people to stop pranking the Fire Service so that anytime there is a call, they will take it seriously," he appealed.

He called on the appropriate authorities to sensitize the general public on the repercussions of pranking the service.

As the bus got razed, drivers around managed to push cars close by to safety. However, they could not do the same to the burnt car close by.

It was locked, with its tainted glasses fully rolled up. They tried breaking the glasses to move it, but their efforts were fruitless.