<<Print>>

Personnel of the Ghana Police Service have launched a massive manhunt for the truck driver who ran into the convoy of the Russian Chief Justice, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Lebedev, on Monday. The truck driver, whose identity is currently unknown, is said to have bolted when his truck ran into the convoy of the Russian Chief Justice, injuring him critically enough for him to be rushed to the Intensive Unit of the 37 Military Hospital. �The driver cannot be traced now,� stated ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, the Director General of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) in a telephone conversation with DAILY GUIDE on Tuesday. The Volta Regional Police Commander, ACP Fred Asare Agyapong, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE last Tuesday said, �We have sent men to locate the driver who absconded immediately after causing the accident.� He added that �since we cannot find the driver, we will locate the owner of the truck who can at least lead us to the driver.� As at press time yesterday, he confirmed that they had successfully located the owner of the truck, but declined to give his details since he was an ailing senior citizen. Apparently, the truck owner is said to have a mild stroke. ACP Fred Agyapong noted that �we are conferring with the truck owner to help in locating the truck driver.� DAILY GUIDE has gathered that a team of officers from police headquarters have been dispatched to the scene of the accident under the command of DSP Sasu Mensah to assist the Volta Regional police in their investigations. The ghastly accident happened at the Awudome-Kpetomi Junction, near Tsito in the Volta Region when the tipper truck with registration number GT 4711 J suddenly veered into the lane on which the Russian Chief Justice�s convoy was travelling. Narrating the incident, he said a police dispatch rider, who was leading the convoy, signaled all vehicles to stop at the Ho intersection. �But the truck driver stopped and the first convoy vehicle passed, then the truck driver moved, I don�t know whether he thought that was the only vehicle�the driver of the Russian envoy tried to avoid the collision but somersaulted. So it isn�t that he (the truck driver) ran into the vehicle carrying the Russian Chief Justice. The truck driver fell somewhere; he didn�t get into collision with the other vehicle.� According to the MTTU boss, it took paramedics almost one hour to pull the distressed Russian legal luminary out of the mangled vehicle and rushed to the intensive unit of the 37 Military Hospital. Mr. Lebedev is said to have been critically injured alongside his driver. Airlifting As at Tuesday, he was said to have been in a critical but stable condition. ACP Awuni and the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor and other dignitaries visited the injured Chief Justice on Tuesday and he spoke normally with them, DAILY GUIDE gathered. As at press time, preparations were far advanced for Mr. Lebedev to be airlifted to Moscow for further treatment. �Arrangements have been made with the Russian authorities for an air ambulance to arrive from Russia to be airlifted to Moscow for further treatment and we are currently waiting the arrival of the ambulance,� said the Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu on Tuesday. Botched assignment A day after the accident, a top Russian government official was supposed to pay a courtesy call on President John Dramani Mahama at the Flagstaff House. On Wednesday, September 18, 2013, the Russian delegation was also expected to call on the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho before departing for Russia. On that ill-fated day, the Ghanaian and Russian Judiciaries were expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Unfortunately, these high-profile visits and meetings had to be cancelled because of the ghastly accident. Mr. Lebedev was the leader of a four-member delegation from the Russian Judiciary that visited their Ghanaian counterparts at the invitation of the Ghanaian Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood. The visit was expected to span September 14-18. Members of the delegation include Mr. Vasily Volshin, Chief Justice of the Moscow Regional Court, Vasily Tarasov, Chief Justice of the Saratov Regional Court and Dmitry Makarov, an Interpreter. The visit was aimed at providing the opportunity for the two Judiciaries to discuss issues of mutual interest. On the day of the accident, the Russian Chief Justice had just finished addressing the Annual Bar Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Ho.