The truck driver, who was transporting explosives that exploded at Appiatse near Bogoso, in the Western Region, on January 20, has finally broken his silence.

The heartbroken driver, Alfred Pappoe, who is still nursing his wounds, said he is now out of job. He alleged that his boss at Arthanns Company in February, handed him a termination letter with one-month salary without consideration for the trauma he went through as a result of the accident.

Mr. Pappoe, who earned GHC1,100 a month, said his boss explained that the contract with MAXAM Company, had been lost after the accident, hence the need for him to be laid off.

“At the end of February, my boss told me that MAXAM Company had terminated the contract with him, as such, he also had to terminate his contract with me,” Mr. Pappoe said.

He expressed disappointment that his boss could do that to him, given the sacrifice he made to save the community from the effects of the explosion, if it had occurred in the middle of the town

The disastrous accident at Appiatse involved a DAF vehicle with registration number WR 2252-18 transporting explosives from Tarkwa to Chirano Gold Mines and a motorcycle.

The Police stated that the rider of the motorcycle from the opposite direction, collided with the vehicle.

According to Alfred Pappoe, he acted to save the residents by driving out of the town after sensing danger.

“When I was almost getting to Appiatse, the town was in a bend and at that time, the Police escort had already negotiated the bend. I later saw a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction and immediately an Urvan bus was just close to him and trying to overtake a ‘Pragya’.”

“The motor rider was still following the Urvan and just when the Urvan driver shifted to another lane, the motor rider lost control and two people fell from the motor. The motorcycle was heading towards my direction as he was very close,” he said.

Speaking on Accra-based FM, Mr Pappoe said at that instant, it was so easy for him to avoid the motor by turning to his left, however, that would have meant running into the two persons who fell off the motor so he decided otherwise.

But before he could do so, he realized that the motor’s fuel tank had opened and started leaking under his truck. It sparked the fire which then came into contact with the truck.

Mr. Pappoe said when the fire started, he realised there was nothing he could do and so he decided to quickly move out of the town before it exploded.

“When I realised there was nothing I could do, I decided to drive quickly from the town because I knew it was going to explode. That was when some of the residents started drawing closer to the truck and started shouting that the truck was on fire.”

“I knew what I was doing and so I didn’t even pay attention to the residents. I wanted to just move out of the town and drive past a fuel station and get a safer place and leave the truck there to explode even though I was feeling the heat in the truck,” he added.

He said the residents were still following the truck and did not budge despite his continuous caution because they wanted to take pictures and videos of the incident.

Unfortunately, the explosives detonated and killed some of them.