THREE SCHOOL pupils have been burnt beyond recognition by an inferno while they were returning from school on Tuesday afternoon.
The heartbreaking incident happened when a commercial bus, in which the children aged between five and seven years were travelling, suddenly caught fire on the road.
Sadly, people who live around the Edwenase to Huu main road in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region, where the incident happened, could not intervene.
According to eyewitness reports, the commercial vehicle was loaded with a number of petroleum products and gas cylinders, so the fire spread at a lightning speed.
It all started when the school bus which was taking six pupils of the Beginners Educational Complex home after school, developed a fault along the way.
The school bus driver then offloaded the six pupils into a commercial bus at the scene to take them home as efforts to repair the faulty school bus had proven futile.
Unknown to the school bus driver, the commercial bus had an engine fault. The bus then sparked a fire immediately the driver started the engine with the ignition keys.
All the passengers in bus, including the six school pupils, were then trapped by the fire. Later on, the passengers managed to escape unhurt, leaving behind three school pupils.
According to reports, the three pupils, who are females, were trapped in the burning bus as they were burnt beyond recognition in the full glare of the public.
People at the scene attempted to rescue the young girls, but they couldn’t go near the bus, as huge gas explosions from the vehicle scared them away.
The charred bodies of the school pupils have since been deposited in the morgue as police in the area are investigating the unfortunate case.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi