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05.05.2012 General News

Traggic Weekend - 6 Die In Accident, 4 Kids Burnt To Death

By Daily Graphic
The mangled Yutong bus after the accident at YamoranzaThe mangled Yutong bus after the accident at Yamoranza
05.05.2012 LISTEN

The mangled Yutong bus after the accident at Yamoranza Ten people, including four children, lost their lives in tragic circumstances in three separate incidents over the weekend that has been described as a black weekend for the nation.


From Elubo in the Western Region, Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu reports
that three persons died on the spot when the Mercedes Benz saloon car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary passenger vehicle on the Elubo-Takoradi Highway last Friday.

The deceased, two officials of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), who were also husband and wife, and an officer of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), were said to be heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner when the accident occurred about 5.30 p.m.

They were identified as Albert Sowa, 58, the customs officer; Hanna Afful, 28, and her husband, Daniel Owusu, 28, both GIS officials.

According to the police, Owusu had been transferred from Elubo to Aflao and his close friend, Sowa, decided to organise a dinner for him and his wife before he (Owusu) left for his new station last Saturday.

Speaking to the graphic.com.gh, the Jomoro District Police Commander, Superintendent of Police Mr John F. Dzineku, said the customs officer, who had just returned from Accra that Friday, was joined by the couple in the Mercedes Benz for the venue of the dinner and the accident occurred at Kilometre-3 on the Elubo- Takoradi Highway.

He said the driver of the passenger vehicle had stopped by one of the rivers along the road to wash his vehicle at a place considered one of the danger spots on the road.

He said the customs officer’s vehicle rammed into the passenger vehicle, somersaulted several times and burst into flames.

Mr Dzineku said before a team of Fire Service men and the police could get to the scene, the occupants of the Benz had died.

Abraham Kofoya-Tetteh reports from Koforidua that tragedy hit Abogri, a Koforidua suburb, last Saturday when four children between the ages of three-and-half and six were burnt to death in a small room in an uncompleted building.

While Patience Dede Maako, six, died in the room, the three others — Emmanuel Kofi, four, Jenifer Addo, five, and David Addo, three-and-half — died within an hour at the Koforidua Central Hospital, although doctors there did their best to save their lives.

The incident took place in a small room in an uncompleted building without electricity about 8 a.m.

According to the Assembly Member for Abogri, Mr Dornelious Agbovor, he had information that the children who had been playing behind the house about 8 a.m. got burnt in the room about 10 a.m. the same day.

He said the door of the room in which the kids were had been locked from behind during the day and their mothers could not be found at that particular period.

The deceased children’s mothers have been picked up by the police to assist in investigations.

At the Eastern Regional Police Headquarters, the police confirmed that a report on the incident had been made but declined to comment, with the explanation that they were yet to deal with it.

From Cape Coast, Shirley Asiedu-Addo reports that a joyous trip by the members of the Swaggard Hotel Keep Fit Club based in Kumasi to the Kakum National Park turned sour when the bus on which they were travelling got involved in an accident, killing three of them on the spot.

They are Kofi Agyeman, 37; Richard Obeng, 35, and Nana Kwame, 25.

About 50 others were injured, some severely, and are on admission at the Central Regional Hospital.

The accident was said to have occurred at the Yamoransa Junction about 4.30 a.m on Saturday when the 49-seater Yutong bus on which the club members were travelling, with registration number GN 2524-10, ran into another vehicle.

It is reported that the driver of the bus, Kobina Mensah, 35, lost control of the vehicle and ran into a 207 Benz bus, with registration number AS 6311-U, which was ahead of him.

The Yutong bus then ran into two other vehicles — a Mitsubishi minibus, with registration number GN 5277-12, and a Toyota minibus, with registration number GC 2313-11 — both stationed at the Yamoransa Junction, before falling on its side.

The Central Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent of Police Mr Paul Aduhene, advised drivers to be cautious on the road and rest, when necessary, to help reduce accidents.

At the Central Regional Hospital in Cape Coast, reports gathered indicated that four of the accident victims were in critical condition and had been sent to the theatre, others were waiting to be taken to the theatre, while one was at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

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