Police issues ultimatum over 'Muslim' corpses

The bodies of six people who died in an accident in Tamale have sparked a confrontation between the police and the natives of Diari where the accident occurred.

Last night a mob numbering about 200 overpowered a small team of policemen and took away the corpses for burial in accordance with Muslim tradition.

The police say that the bodies should have been taken to the hospital for autopsy first. They have instructed that the bodies should be returned by close of day today.

Northern Regional Police PRO, Chief Inspector Ebenezer Tetteh, explaining the fracas to Joy News, said the police contingent of about six were threatened with death and their vehicle risked burning if they insisted on taking the bodies to the hospital.

"The five bodies that were already in the police car were taken off by the group and that made us to leave the scene of accident about 1 a.m. this morning," he said.

He said the natives, after confiscating the bodies from the police, carted them away in a cargo truck for burial.

Chief Inspector Tetteh warned the leader of the group will be held liable for obstructing police inquest into the cause of death of the victims who he said died of unnatural cause.

The six died in an accident at Diari, a village near Tamale in the Northern Region when an articulated truck and a Kia truck collided.

The police said four others are in critical condition and are on admission at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

Chief Inspector Tetteh, explaining the incident to Joy News, said the Kia truck bumped into a pot-hole and burst a front tyre.

The driver lost control and the truck veered into the lane of the oncoming articulated truck resulting in the head-on collision.

Source Joy News/Ghana