Nine people died on the spot last Sunday evening when a truck collided head on with a bus at Ohene-Nkwanta near Konongo in the Ashanti Region. The dead were six men, two women and a one-and-a-half year old baby girl. They included the drivers of the two vehicles.
So far, only one of the dead has been identified as Ibrahim Anyans who was on the bus with registration number AS 1465-09 travelling from Kumasi to Accra. The police said they were yet to ascertain the total number of injured as they could not immediately tell how many were on the truck. However, doctors at Agogo Presbyterian Hospital told the Times that 13 injured people and two dead bodies were brought to the hospital.
Other injured persons were sent to Komfo Anokye Hospital in Kumasi, according to the police. ASP John Mbrah, Konongo District MTTU Commander told the Times that the accident occurred between 7 and 8pm, when the KIA truck with registration number GR9321 Q bound for Kumasi tried to bypass a faulty articulated truck, (AS 8103 T) parked on the road.
In the process, he said the truck veered into the lane of the oncoming Ford resulting in a collision. The Medical Administrator of the Agogo Hospital, Dr William A. Thompson, said so far, one woman who suffered a minor cut on the head been treated and discharged. One of the injured passengers on the bus, Dauda Omar, who is on admission at Agogo hospital said he saw the speeding truck coming into their lane and �the next thing I saw, was when I woke up at the hospital.� Mr Omar identified Ibrahim Anyans as his nephew with whom he was traveling to Accra as one of the dead.
At the Intensive care Unit of the hospital, Kwame Owusu, said he was on the truck, with 10 others but he could not tell how many of them survived. Others on admission at the unit were Yaw Yeboah and Albert Abongo both passengers on the truck. Dr Solomon Mano, a surgeon at Agogo hospital, appealed to motorists to avoid unnecessary speeding, saying all the accidents recorded during the yuletide period, were caused by speeding vehicles and other breaches of the traffic regulations.
Referring to an accident, which occurred on January 1 at Kyekyebiase, at Agogo which claimed the life of a staff of the hospital, he said the taxi on which he was travelling was loaded with six people instead of the recommended five. �And the bus with which it collided was also travelling with only one light,� he said and noted that the accident could have been avoided of the drivers had respected traffic regulations.
<<Print>>