Chief, Five Others Perish

A prominent chief in the Volta Region, Torgbui Kporsu III of Dzelukope, became one of the latest high-profile victims of road accidents in Ghana when he died on the spot following multiple collisions that claimed six lives on the Accra-Aflao road.

The accident, which involved four vehicles at Alesikpe, near Dabala Junction, also resulted in severe injuries to six others.

The rest of the victims were Godwin Samma, Yao Agbagah, Michael Yao Mankata, Rev K. Hotor and Confidence Kafui Sedziafa.

According to reports, Torgbui Kporsu was from Tema, where he attended the funeral of his brother and was returning to Dzelukope to prepare for another funeral, this time of his daughter, which was scheduled for this weekend.

Eyewitnesses said the initial crash involved an articulated truck, with registration number GT 4295 V, and an Opel Kadett, with registration number GR 6252 A.

They said the driver of the Opel Kadett, which was speeding from Accra to Aflao, lost control of the steering wheel and bumped into the truck, which was carrying 1,000 bags of cement from Aflao to Accra, killing three persons on the spot.

Following that crash, two other vehicles, a pick-up, with registration number GT 617 D, and a Hyundai bus, with registration number GW 4471 Y, which were travelling from Aflao to Accra, also ran into the truck and the Hyundai bus respectively, killing three more persons in the bus, including Torgbe Kporsu III.

The Tongu Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Stephen Anyan, confirmed the accident and said the police were investigating.

According to accident figures, the worst fatalities in the country's history occurred in May this year, including one in which 40 people were killed in a gruesome highway carnage at Okyereko, near Winneba.

The accident, which involved seven vehicles, was described as the worst in the history of the country.

Similarly, five persons died on the spot and two were seriously injured when a vehicle knocked down a pedestrian and later crashed into a building at Tegbi-Kpota, near Keta in the Volta Region on May 27, 2007.

Three persons were reported dead on the spot on May 19, 2007 while 18 others sustained various degrees of injury when a Benz 207 bus was involved in a head-on collision with a Benz cargo truck at the outskirts of Apeguso in the Eastern Region.

Story by Timothy Gobah