Mass burial for  the 17 passengers who were burnt beyond recognition when the vehicle on which they were travelling from Akyem Oda towards Agona Swedru last Saturday caught fire after colliding with another bus will take place in Oda today.

The Medical Superintendent in charge of the Oda government hospital , Dr. Kobena Awotwe Wiredu who disclosed this, said the mass burial had become imperative because the bodies had begun to decompose and that posed a health hazard to the people, while the hospital’s mortuary was too small to contain them.

Dr. Wiredu said the burial would be carried out by the hospital authorities, in conjunction with the police and the Environmental Health department of the Birim Central municipal assembly.

He said none of the relatives of the 17 victims had approached the hospital authorities to report of their missing relatives since last Saturday so if the bodies were left at the morgue for another day, the mortuary attendants and the staff whose departments were near the facility could not work due to the overpowering odour from the bodies.

According to Dr Wiredu, four out of the 11 accident victims on admission at the hospital, comprising a male and three females, whose condition were very critical had been referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital and the Achimota hospitals for specialist attention.

He said Kwame Amoaning from Kwaoboadi Number One in the Akyemmansa district, who had serious head injuries and burns over the hands and legs and had been unconscious since his admission, together with 36 year old Sophia Eshun and 23 year old Joyce Yantey, had been sent to the Korle -Bu Teaching hospital, while Jennifer Akabo,46, had been referred to the Achimota hospital at the request of her husband.

The medical superintendent  stated that the remaining seven patients on admission were in stable condition.

He reiterated his appeal to people whose relatives travelled from Oda to Agona Swedru/Accra and from Nsawam to Oda last Saturday and had not reached their destinations to contract the hospital authorities for verification if they were among the dead at the hospital.

Dr. Wiredu stated that four out of the five people who died in last Saturday’s fatal accident had been identified.

D.Graphic/AMA