Passengers and truck drivers have been facing significant delays and frustration at both banks of the Oti River in the Krachi East and Nchumuru districts due to a ferry malfunction.
The breakdown resulted in a tragic incident where Kofi Twee, a Volta Lake Transport Services employee at Dambai, lost his life while trying to repair the ferry. He was fatally caught by the ferry’s propeller.
On Saturday, those seeking ferry services between Dambai and Dordoe-Korpe were met with unexpected disruptions, leaving them unable to purchase tickets. Consequently, many had no choice but to use boats as an alternative to cross the river.
Daniel Andy Peprah-Agyei, the Public Relations Officer for Volta Lake Transport Services, explained that the ferry experienced an electronic steering fault during its journey on Friday, preventing it from docking properly.
Efforts are underway to tow the ferry from Dordoe-Korpe to Dambai for repairs, and engineers are working to resolve the issue.
Peprah-Agyei assured that stranded vehicles would be transported later in the day, with full ferry operations expected to resume by Saturday evening or Sunday.
The Ghana News Agency observed numerous vehicles, including Vision buses, Metro Mass Transit buses, tipper trucks, cargo trucks, and private cars, left stranded at both sides of the river.
The Oti River, which extends from the Volta Lake, is a crucial route connecting northern regions to southern Ghana.
The affected commuters, predominantly farmers who grow crops such as millet, beans, maize, cassava, yam, and rice for markets in Dambai, Banda, Borae, Chinderi, and Kete-Krachi, have faced substantial disruptions. Meanwhile, boat operators have capitalized on the situation, working tirelessly to handle the increased demand caused by the ferry breakdown.
In Asuoyeboah, a Trotro was partly smashed by a truck, causing panic among passengers.
They hastily exited the bus, fearing for their safety.
The chaotic scene unfolded in the middle of the road, disrupting traffic.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported despite the sudden collision.
But the incident left the passengers shaken but grateful to have escaped unharmed.
Watch the video below:
Passengers on a commercial mini bus(Trotro) were forced to flee for their lives when the vehicle was hit from behind by a truck in the middle of the road in Asuoyeboah, located in the Ashanti Region. pic.twitter.com/K0tYx3jLWi
A devastating accident unfolded on the Congo River, claiming the lives of at least 30 individuals when a boat capsized near Mbandaka in north-western Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There are grave concerns that the casualty count could surge as search and rescue operations persist.
The incident, which transpired on a Friday, left more than 160 people unaccounted for. Preliminary reports indicate that the boat was navigating at night in violation of regulations and may have been excessively laden.
Authorities disclosed that it was transporting over 300 passengers and a cargo load encompassing cement, fuel, and iron bars.
With the absence of a comprehensive national road network, river transportation is a prevailing mode of travel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, often accompanied by frequent accidents.
Due to a widespread issue with e-gates at ports and airports, there are huge lines and “scenes of utter chaos” at the UK border.
Due to a technical issue, electronic gates stopped working late on Friday, forcing all passengers to be processed through staffed airport desks.
It comes as traffic builds on motorways and queues grow at Dover due to the bank holiday getaway.
Heathrow Airport said it was aware of the problem affecting its passengers.
The e-gates are operated by Border Force, the airport said, adding that the problem was widespread across airports and ports.
It said: “Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare.
“We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.”
The Home Office also confirmed the delays for arrivals in the UK.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK.
“We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers.”
One traveller at Heathrow said on Twitter they had been waiting in a queue for four hours.
Another said they were met with the “mother of queues” for manual passport checks.
Another person at Heathrow tweeted: “Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. 2 hour queues just to get to the real queue. Gates broken.”
There are more than 270 eGates at the UK border.
They can be used by British and EU citizens over the age of 12, as well as people from several other countries including Australia, Canada, the US, Japan and New Zealand.
Returning from Dubai overnight to this mother of queues. Apparently national outage in border control machines 🤷🏼♀️so manual passport checks. Moreso ridiculous when paying ££ extra for the privilege of travelling through @HeathrowAirport pic.twitter.com/pcPCkoxdVy— Lina Tayara (@FabLoulou) May 27, 2023
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Travellers on the roads also face the prospect of long queues throughout the weekend.
Journeys on some stretches of the M25 could take up to three times longer than normal, transport data company Inrix has warned.
Long delays are also expected on the M5 in Somerset and the M6 in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
Drivers across the UK will make 19.2 million leisure car trips between Friday and Monday, according to estimates from the RAC, with the hottest day of the year so far forecast on Sunday.
Ferry passengers through Dover were advised to allow two hours to complete border controls and check-in – even before the e-gate problems.
DFDS ferry company tweeted: “Please be prepared with refreshments & use facilities before arriving at the port.”
The Port of Dover said delays at French border control were due to “IT issues” with “high volumes of tourist and freight traffic on Port approaches”.
Image: Queues for the ferry at Dover on Saturday morning
People queuing at Dover told Sky News they had missed their ferry because of the queues and were “about to find out” whether they could get on a later sailing.
“It’s frustrating, but it is what is,” they said.
The resigned attitude was shared by other travellers, who said they had come expecting delays after seeing long queues on previous bank holiday weekends.
At Easter, passengers faced waits of up to 14 hours.
One couple in the queue of cars today told Sky News they had travelled half a mile in 35 minutes.
They said they had left three hours instead of 90 minutes but had still missed their check-in time.
The RAC said it was expecting the busiest weekend of traffic since before the pandemic.
“Getting away early in the morning or delaying trips until the evening are the best way to avoid the inevitable delays,” spokesman Rod Dennis said.
While holidaymakers face the prospect of long queues, those staying at home for the long weekend should enjoy some of the hottest weather of the year.
Southeast Wales and around the Bristol Channel will get the best of the weather, with temperatures up to 24C on Saturday and Sunday.
Other parts of the UK could see temperatures reaching the high teens and low 20s.
The dry and bright weather is likely to continue for most with little rain expected throughout next week during half term.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at London Heathrow for a second day after British Airways (BA) cancelled at least 42 more flights due to an IT breakdown.
BA said cancellations are still happening due to the “knock-on effect of a technical issue” resulting in staff being in the wrong location.
Around 16,000 passengers have been affected by the cancellations.
It comes on the busiest day for UK air travel since 2019.
Most of the affected flights are departing from or arriving at Heathrow.
But there have also been delays to other flights, while some passengers have been unable to check in online.
On Thursday, BA apologised for cancelling dozens of flights at Heathrow. The airline said it was related to “technical problems” causing difficulties with online check-in, delaying flights.
“While the vast majority of our flights continue to operate today, we have cancelled some of our short-haul flights from Heathrow due to the knock-on effect of a technical issue that we experienced yesterday,” BA said in a statement on Friday.
Those affected have been offered the option to rebook an alternative flight or request a refund, BA added.
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder calculated that at least 156 flights, mainly domestic and European, have been cancelled.
Aviation analytics company Cirium said Friday was expected to see the most departures from UK airports since before the Covid pandemic, with more than 3,000 flights planned.
This is partly down to families heading on holiday for the half-term break.
The issues started as security guards at Heathrow Airport belonging to the Unite union began a three-day strike over pay. The airport has said operations will not be affected.
BA has been hit by other IT problems in recent years including a major breakdown in 2017 that stranded 75,000 passengers over a holiday weekend.
The incident sparked a customer backlash with pledges from the carrier that it would do better in future.
Passengers also faced delays due to an IT issue in February, days after flights had been cancelled due to Storm Eunice.
Image caption,Dover has been dogged by long tailbacks of vehicles during busy holiday periods
Meanwhile traffic has started building up at Dover as people embark on cross-Channel ferry trips.
Ferry operator DFDS said shortly before 08:30 BST that there was a wait of around an hour at border control for travellers in cars, while coach traffic was “free-flowing”.
The Port of Dover tweeted that traffic is “currently processing well with no wait time for coaches, less than an hour wait for cars”.
Dover has been dogged by long tailbacks of vehicles during busy holiday periods. In the lead up to Easter some coach passengers faced 15-hour delays to board ferries to France from the Kent port.
Dover’s boss said this week it has done “everything we can” to prevent travel delays over the upcoming bank holiday and school half-term break.
Elsewhere, Eurotunnel reported its cross-Channel vehicle services were busy, but trains were departing on time.
On the railway, a fault with the signalling system between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport is expected to cause disruption until around 15:00.
Six people have died on the spot in an accident that happened at Apirede mountain in the Okere District- Eastern Region on Friday, 7 October 2022 around 1:30 Pm.
The accident involved a Benz sprinter bus with registration number GY 1570-13 carrying some passengers from Koforidua attending a funeral at Aflao.
According to an eye witness who is also a driver named TT, he signaled the driver who was overspeeding to reduce the speed due to the nature of the road but he ignored it.
“The driver should be blamed, he was over speeding and I told him to reduce it but he did not even look at me so I was not surprised it happened. The car somersaulted severally” he stated.
About a month ago, students from the University of Education Winneba who were on an educational trip had an accident on the Apirede mountain which claimed four lives.
Four passengers including a pregnant woman have died in a gory accident at Kronum in the Suame Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
The victims, a pregnant woman, her husband, and her two children reportedly died on Tuesday, September 26, 2022, when a sprinter bus with registration number AS 8293-21 crashed into a Techiman bound Ssangyong bus with registration number AS 9700-22 At Kronum New York Junction.
The impact according to witnesses caused the sprinter bus to sit on the roof of Ssangyong’s vehicle, killing the pregnant woman and her two children on the spot.
Her husband was however pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital
Some residents who eye witnessed the unfortunate incident told OTEC News that, the driver of the sprinter bus suffered severe injuries and is currently receiving treatment at the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The identities of the victims who died remain sketchy.
The four were said to have boarded the Ssangyong bus from Kumasi to Techiman.
When contacted the Ashanti Regional Police Command said they were not aware of any such accident.
The Public Relations officer for police in the region, ASP Godwin Ahianyo said they had not received any report of the accident and so could not speak to it.
This was after Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) at the Saume Divisional Headquarters who were reported to have gone to the scene denied giving information on the accident to OTEC News with an excuse that only the regional police command has the information.
Dozens of people were left stranded for hours inside the Channel Tunnel after a train from Calais to Folkestone appeared to have broken down.
Footage emerged showing Eurotunnel Le Shuttle passengers being evacuated through an emergency service tunnel after having to abandon their vehicles.
They were eventually transferred to a replacement train and taken to the Folkestone terminal in Kent.
A Eurotunnel spokesman said services were now back to normal.
Le Shuttle said Tuesday night’s incident began when the train’s alarms went off and this needed to be investigated.
A spokesman said such incidents were unusual but not exceptional – far more common on trains carrying lorries than those with private cars.
“The Shuttle was brought to a controlled stop and inspected. As a precautionary measure, for their safety and comfort, we transferred the passengers on board to another shuttle, via the service tunnel (which is there for exactly that purpose),” the spokesman said.
“We brought them to the passenger terminal building, where food and drinks were available, and then slowly brought out the original shuttle and reunited them with their vehicles.”
Sarah Fellows, 37, from Birmingham, told the PA news agency she found the service tunnel “terrifying”.
She added: “It was like a disaster movie. You were just walking into the abyss not knowing what was happening. We all had to stay under the sea in this big queue.
“There was a woman crying in the tunnel, another woman having a panic attack who was travelling alone.”
Another passenger, who did not want to be named, said: “Several people were freaking out about being down in the service tunnel, it’s a bit of a weird place… We were stuck down there for at least five hours.”
All those on board the train were transferred at 20:22 BST (19:22 GMT) “in line with safety procedures and as a comfort measure”, Le Shuttle said.
A passenger contacted the BBC before 17:45 saying they were on the train which had stopped. The passenger complained of poor communication, with the public address system not working properly.
A Le Shuttle spokesperson later said that passenger traffic was light on the Folkestone side.
Four additional trains were laid on overnight from Calais to Folkestone to deal with the backlog from the incident.
But customers travelling from Calais were advised not to travel to the terminal on Tuesday night.
“Due to the earlier train fault, we advise you not to travel to the terminal tonight,” Le Shuttle added. “Please arrive after 6am tomorrow.”
The service transports passengers and their vehicles between Folkestone and Calais.
At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), it has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world.
There were about 100 vehicles on the halted shuttle.
Le Shuttle said all passengers would be contacted individually to arrange compensation.
