3 SHS Student Killed

Three Senior High School students including two final-year students have met their untimely death in tragic ways.

The final-year students were involved in an accident at Assin Manso in the Central Region, while the other one, Richmond Vifah, drowned in a swimming pool at Tesano in Accra.

Richmond Vifah was a form-one student of Christian Methodist Senior High School, Aplaku near Weija in Accra.

Six people perished in the fatal accident at Assin Manso on Tuesday when a Takoradi-bound articulated truck with registration number GT 9219-12 from Obuasi collided with an Assin Fosu-bound Urvan bus with registration number CR 654-09 from Mankessim.

The dead were four females and two males. One of the females, Doris Abu Mensah, was a form-four student of Assin Manso Senior High School.

The bodies have since been deposited at the St Francis Hospital Morgue at Assin Foso for autopsy.

The remaining passengers on the bus sustained serious injuries in the accident which happened around 2:15pm. They were rushed to the St Francis Hospital for treatment.

A source stated that the accident happened some metres away from the Assin Manso Senior High School.

The source said Doris, who had boarded the bus from Mankessim, called her friend, Portia Forson, a form-four student, on the phone to meet her at the school junction to enable them to go and register in the biometric registration exercise.

The source added that while waiting for Doris at the junction, the articulated truck, which was coming from Obuasi, veered off the lane and knocked down Portia.

The source said the truck collided with the bus that Doris boarded, killing six people on the spot.

The source hinted that Portia, who was in a very critical condition, was sent to the Central Regional Hospital for treatment.

It disclosed that the driver of the articulated truck might have been dozing, leading to the accident.

However, both drivers survived while the mate of the bus died.


Boy Drowns In Pool

The Tesano Police are investigating the death of the17-year-old student who drowned last Sunday in a private swimming pool belonging to a doctor at Tesano.

Richmond Vifah, a form-one student of Christian Methodist Senior High School, Aplaku near Weija, was with three of his schoolmates when he allegedly jumped into the seven-foot swimming pool.

The tragedy happened around 6pm at Tesano Bungalow, Tsikata Road, Accra.

ASP George Asare, the Tesano District Crime Officer, told DAILY GUIDE that on that fateful day, the deceased, together with a friend, Shadrack Allottey, both from Kasoa in the Central Region, visited two sisters by name Beatrice and Bernice Kpodo in the said house at Tesano.

After some minutes of chatting with the ladies, Richmond expressed interest in using their pool but the girls declined.

“The girls were said to have told him that their elder brother, who is a caretaker of the house, had warned them not to use the pool.”

Richmond then persisted that they talk to the brother to allow him to swim.

Beatrice Kpodo initially went outside the house to look for the brother but could not find him and so asked Richmond to wait until the brother came.

Richmond, together with Shadrack, however, went and sat at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, chatting.

After chatting for some time, the deceased jumped into the water and asked Shadrack to also jump in for them to swim together, but the latter declined, saying that he did not know how to swim very well.

While Richmond was dying in the water, and the girls were shouting, Shadrack thought he was doing acrobatics and urged the ladies to keep quiet.

After some time, they realized that Richmond had sunk down and could not come up and so called for help.

When the victim was removed from the pool, water was gushing out of all his openings- the nose, mouth, ears and eyes- and was rushed to the Hobard Clinic, Tesano for medical care.

He was later referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The body has since been deposited at the Police Hospital Morgue awaiting autopsy.

Shadrack, Bernice and Beatrice were arrested by the police to help in their investigations but were granted bail.

ASP Asare said the police did not suspect any foul play but they were awaiting the autopsy report to determine the next line of action.

Source: Linda Tenyah, Accra & Sarah Owusu-Darlington/Daily Guide