Ashanti Region: Road carnage claims 28 lives in one week

On November 7, 2021, 8:06 AM

Some twenty-eight people have died in separate road accidents in the Ashanti Region alone in one week.

Families have been left in despair, anguish and complete sadness as relatives lose their lives just a month to Christmas and the end of 2021.

On 1 November 2021, some 20 persons died in a fatal accident, while 16 others reportedly sustained injuries on the Offinso-Abofour road in the Ashanti Region.

A Sprinter bus heading towards the northern part of the country collided with a trailer from the opposite direction, causing the unfortunate accident on Monday morning.

The Offinso MTTD Commander, DSP Edmund Nyamekye, said preliminary investigations showed that the driver of the trailer may have dozed off, leading to the collision with the Sprinter bus.

“There was a head-on collision. Seventeen people are dead, and others are injured. They have all been rushed to the hospital for treatment. The driver of the Sprinter is also dead but the driver of the articulated truck is in a critical condition. He should have stopped somewhere and relaxed, but he went on to drive, lost control of the vehicle, and ran into a ditch,” he said.

The following day also took the same path. Six were burnt to death on the Akumadan road in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, November 2.

The vehicle, with about 36 passengers on board, crashed into an abandoned KIA Rhino truck at a police checkpoint at Akumadan in the Offinso North District.

Several others were left in critical condition and were sent for treatment at the Akumadan Government Hospital.

One of the passengers identified only as Kwasi, who managed to escape from the vehicle before it caught fire, said the driver failed to apply the brakes because he was driving at top speed.

“The impact of the crash was great, so most of us who were sleeping woke up and started calling for help when the fire started from the front,” he narrated.

He said about 10 passengers managed to escape using the glass windows.

“When we got to Techiman, about 10 passengers alighted, and two more persons joined the bus, so we were close to 36 because the bus takes about 40 passengers,” he added.

On Thursday, November 4, a third accident in the Ashanti Region claimed two more lives at Tafo Pankrono, a suburb of Kumasi.

The deceased persons were the driver of the bus, Bashir Abubakar, 34; and a trader identified as Joyce Konadu, 50.

According to the District Commander of the Tafo-Pankrono MTTD, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Boakye Sarpong, a mini-bus carrying vegetables from Attebubu towards Kejetia Market ran into a stationary Man Diesel truck around 2 AM, killing the two occupants on the spot.

The truck was said to have developed a fault in the middle of the night and was left in the middle of the road.

The driver of the abandoned truck, Yussif Shaibu, has since been arrested.

The bodies have been deposited at the Ebenezer Mortuary in the area.

Road traffic fatalities seem to be rising, with 1,250 lives lost for the first five months of 2021.

This represents a 26.32% increase over the same period in 2020, with the trend suggesting a record high annual figure by the end of 2021.

Persons who survived the crashes but sustained various injuries for the period were 1, 309, a rise of 26.72%.

This means eight lives perish on the country’s roads daily.

On a yearly basis, data for 2020 showed that 2,589 lives were lost to road crashes across the country despite movement restrictions due to COVID-19.

This figure represents a 13% rise compared to the 2,284 registered in 2019.

Some major accidents in 2021

A road crash in February killed 17 passengers and injured 44 others early Wednesday, February 3.

A police statement said the accident occurred when two passenger buses travelling opposite directions collided head-on at a town near Buipe, a community along the Kumasi-Tamale highway.

Sixteen persons died on the spot, while one more died at a hospital where the injured were receiving treatment.

The deceased included 12 males, five females, and one child.

The accident involved two buses with registration numbers GT 3345-16 and AC 1699-20.

They were travelling from Kumasi to Zebila and from Garu to Kumasi, respectively, when they ran into each other.

Nineteen people were reported dead within 12 hours after two bloody road accidents at separate locations.

Three fatalities were recorded in the Central Region and 16 in the Eastern Region on Friday, February 26, 2021.

Joy FM’s Alfred Amoh reported that a truck conveying mourners from Assin Nyankomase to Assin Misrenyame veered off the Assin Nyankomase-Assin Senchiem main road and somersaulted several times.

Three passengers died on the spot, and several others sustained severe injuries, including the driver.

Earlier on the same day, at about 1 AM, a head-on collision claimed 16 lives at Akim Asafo on the Accra-Kumasi Highway.

The accident involved two Kia Grandbird buses with registration numbers GT 5629-19 and GE 5510-15, one of which was a VIP bus.

According to reports, the people who died included the driver and mate of the VIP bus.

A total of 13 males and three females lost their lives.

Three persons got burnt to death when the Mercedez Benz saloon vehicle they were travelling with was involved in an accident on the Spintex road in Accra.

However, one passenger from the Benz was rescued and is currently in critical condition at the LEKMA Hospital.

The driver of the Mercedez Benz vehicle reportedly ignored warning signals of an earlier accident on the road and ran into a 20 footer container that had fallen onto the street.

Police personnel was present at the scene directing traffic. They were supervising the removal of the container from the road when the second accident occurred and resulted in the death of the three persons.

The accident happened on Saturday, March 20, 2021.

Five people died on the spot after an accident at Obretema in the Suhum Municipality involving a Mercedes Sprinter Bus.

They were travelling to Accra from Kumasi on the bus with registration number GW 7444 – 21 when the crash occurred at about 2:30 PM on Sunday, April 12.

According to the police, one of the car tyres burst, causing the driver, 35-year-old Eric Ohemang, to lose control.

Twelve people perished, while seven others sustained serious injuries after an accident on the Buipe-Tamale highway.

Eleven died on the spot, including an eight-year-old girl at Alipe in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region.

A Toyota minibus with registration number AS 2872-20 veered off its lane and collided head-on with a DAF tipper truck with registration number NR 578 loaded with sand.

There were 18 persons on board travelling from Tamale to Kumasi.

The driver of the minibus was one of the people who died on the spot.

The crash occurred on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at around 7:30 PM.

Two people died in a car crash on the Circle-Achimota Highway close to the Tesano police station.

The accident occurred after a commercial vehicle (trotro) rammed into a faulty trailer parked in the middle of the road at about 4:30 AM on Wednesday, April 14.

According to eyewitnesses, the trailer driver failed to place any sign indicating that his vehicle had broken down.

The trotro driver, on top speed, could not see the stationary truck, which carried a number plate supposedly issued in the Republic of Togo, resulting in the crash.

The driver of the trotro and another occupant are reported dead.

The Ghana police and the Ambulance Service personnel were at the scene to rescue trapped occupants from the vehicle.

Three Pedestrians Killed In Car Racing Near Burma Camp

Three innocent persons died while three others battled for their lives after being knocked down by a car engaged in a racing competition at the 37 Lorry Station area in Accra. It was a Toyota Camry Salon car with registration number GR- 1708 -21 driving from the direction of the Accra Trade Fair and heading towards the 37 Roundabout, which lost control and crashed.

Together with a Mercedes Benz saloon car, the drivers defied road regulation and engaged in a competition within the high-security military zone where the Burma Camp is also located.

The incident occurred at about 8:30 PM on Wednesday, April 14, the same day two persons lost their lives in an accident at Tesano in Accra, making it 17 deaths within two days.