The Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), is questioning a decision by the Kintampo District Hospital to organise a mass burial for some 36 victims of the Techiman-Kintampo road crash.
All indications so far are that “some wrong has been done” the Executive Director for the centre, Cynthia Nimo-Ampredu said to Citi News.
The mass burial took place less than 24 hours after the crash which claimed almost 70 lives.
Mrs. Nimo-Ampredu insisted that authorities did not have a right to make that decision on behalf of the victims’ families.
“The family members have some kind of right. They have the authority to decide what happens to their beloved one. Apart from that, we also have our cultural rights and that is evident in the way we celebrate, bury the dead and all of that.”
“The state hasn’t got the first right to say that that this is what should happen to the family of the persons who have lost their lives. The right should go to the family members.”
The accident occurred on the Techiman-Kintampo road after two buses collided with one of them catching fire.
Several of the passengers in the bus were burnt beyond recognition with others in the other bus dying on the spot.
Police in Kintampo justified a decision by the Kintampo District Hospital to organise the mass burial.
“The stakeholders of the Kintampo District, together with the Member of Parliament and some family members of those involved in the accident, all agreed that the bodies which were burnt beyond physical recognition were to be buried. It was an agreement amongst the relative, stakeholders and environmental health officers of the districts. Investigations are still open and the police are willing to give more information to families looking for relatives.”
Police said the decision which was taken in consultation with the relevant stakeholders.
In all, 39 out of the 67 confirmed dead, were buried on Saturday.
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By; Felicia Osei | citinewsroom.com | Ghana