Four Children killed In Accident

Four children were killed when a Benz 809 truck crashed into a kiosk in which they were playing at Nima in Accra on Friday.

The children were playing a video game in the kiosk when the vehicle, with registration number AS 3358F, pushed the kiosk and the children into a nearby gutter.

Three of the children,Sadik,Nana Kwesi and Nana,died the same day at the Ridge Hospital while Paul died the following day.

One of them, Cobbina, is still receiving treatment at the Ridge Hospital.One child, Godson, managed to get out of the kiosk unhurt when he heard the sound of the vehicle moving towards the kiosk.

"I heard a noise and decided to find out what was happening.Then I saw the vehicle approaching at a top speed. I wanted to inform my friends but I could not. I just jumped to the other side," Godson told the Daily Graphic on Saturday in a sober mood.

Godson,who has still not recovered from the trauma, declined to comment further on the accident, simply saying, “I am still confused.”

Eyewitnesses told the Daily Graphic that the vehicle had gone to offload wood at a timber market some 1,000 metres away from the accident scene.

Afterwards, the driver asked his mate, Kwesi Nuhoho, 22, to go and park the vehicle at the owner's house in the area.

According to the eyewitnesses, soon after Kwesi started the vehicle, it began moving at top speed.

All attempts to stop it, including putting cement blocks beneath it, proved futile. Mubarak, an eyewitness, said the vehicle destroyed people's goods and foodstuffs along the way before finally hitting the kiosk.

He said the driver, sensing danger when he approached the gutter,j umped out of the vehicle before it crashed into the kiosk and landed in the gutter.

The vehicle, a number of television sets, video games and parts of the kiosk were still in the gutter as of yesterday morning.

The Unit Commander of the Nima District Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)Fred Adu Anim, said when they got to the scene, the children had been rushed to the Ridge Hospital, while Kwesi had left the scene of the accident.

The Unit Commander said he and his team then followed up to the hospital to assess the situation.He said Kwesi and some elders reported to the police station later in the night and he had since been detained.

According to DSP Anim, investigations were going on to establish the identity of the real driver and the owner of the vehicle.

He said his team was still trying to get a strong towing vehicle to remove the Benz truck from the gutter because initial attempts to pull it with some towing vehicles had failed