Driver, mate in dramatic escape from fuel tanker blaze

A tanker driver and his mate Wednesday made a dramatic escape from death by jumping off their doomed truck moments before it exploded into a huge fireball.

The tanker driver, suspected to have lost his brakes, had attempted avoiding a run-in with another vehicle and skidded off the road at a spot between Assin Damase and Assin Bresiako on the Assin Fosu-Kumasi highway in the Central Region.

The truck carrying diesel then summersaulted and exploded into a raging fire, but the two were already out of danger, escaping with minor injuries.

According to eye witness accounts, the driver of the tanker with registration number GW 3373-Z seemed to have lost control of the vehicle after his brakes failed.

They said the tanker driver in an attempt to avoid running into a Metro Mass Transit bus that was in front of it, rather skidded off the road and somersaulted before catching fire.

Traffic

The incident held traffic on the stretch of the highway for about an hour as firemen from Assin Fosu rushed to the scene to control its spread.

The driver and his mate were sent to the Assin Fosu St Xavier Hospital for treatment.