body-container-line-1
30.05.2011 Disaster

Two Killed In Accident

30.05.2011 LISTEN
By Story: Nana Konadu Agyeman - Daily Graphic

Two persons died, while six others were injured, in an accident involving a KIA truck and an Opel Vectra taxi at Kwamoso, a farming community along the Koforidua-Mamfe road, on Saturday.

The deceased, identified as Samuel Komla Gemakpor and Yaw Terdi, were aboard the KIA truck, which is said to have attempted to overtake the taxi but somersaulted in the process before landing in a gutter.

The two, who were reportedly sitting in the bucket of the KIA truck, were trapped for close to five hours before they passed on.

However, two others in the KIA truck were rescued by a combined team of Fire Service men and policemen from Koforidua and Akropong, respectively.

The accident occurred at about 5.30 p.m., but several attempts by the Akropong Police and some motorists, mainly drivers of tipper trucks, to rescue the four victims on board the KIA truck proved futile until various cutting devices had been used.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Akropong Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Ernest Owusu, said the KIA truck, with registration number GW 1204-11, and the taxi, with registration number ER 26 W, were both travelling from Koforidua towards Mamfe.

He said the unidentified driver of the KIA truck was reported to have attempted to overtake the taxi but had to change his mind when he spotted a vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

To avert a head-on collision, the KIA truck driver made an attempt to move into its lane, but in the process he lost control of the vehicle and hit the side of the taxi before somersaulting.

Gemakpor and Terdi were trapped to death in the terribly mangled truck, while four persons travelling in the taxi sustained minor injuries.

Chief Supt Owusu said the two injured persons on board the KIA truck and the four others in the taxi were rushed to the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital for treatment, while the bodies of the deceased were taken to the morgue of the same hospital.

body-container-line