A commercial motorcycle rider and a pillion rider were hit by a train at the Neoplan Station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra yesterday.
The motor rider, identified only as Taller, about 27 years old, was pronounced dead at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where he had been sent for treatment.
The pillion rider, identified as Ayariga Achana, 25, sustained serious injuries and is currently receiving attention at Korle Bu.
The body of Taller has been deposited at the Korle Bu morgue.
Good Samaritans
The Railways Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr Yussif Tanko, said the accident occurred about 6:30 a.m.
He said the train was from Tema heading towards the Accra Rail Station, while the motor bike with registration number M-14-GR 3972, was from the New Times Road towards the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
Mr Tanko said the motor bike ran into the moving train.
According to him, some good Samaritans rushed the two men, who had sustained severe injuries on their arms and legs, to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
He said the police were informed about the accident two hours after it had happened, upon which they rushed to the hospital.
The police said medical doctors confirmed that Achana was in a critical condition and that doctors were giving him the needed attention.
Vehicles stopped
An eyewitness, Mr. Aaron Oteng, a commercial driver at the Neoplan Station, told the Daily Graphic that an official of the Ghana Railway Company stationed at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle rail crossing had signalled all vehicles to stop, since a train was approaching.
�And so all the cars had stopped because we heard the siren and the man at the rail crossing had also waved a flag for all to stop for the train to cross,� he said.
He said the motor bike rider, with another man riding on a different bike, sped past the parked vehicles �as if he wanted to be fast to cross before the train would get there�.
Mr. Oteng said when the rider got to the rail line, his motorbike suddenly stopped, �as if it had developed a fault or probably run out of fuel and before he could move, the train hit him and his pillion rider and threw them off the rail�.
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