53 feared dead in accident on Tamale-Kintampo road

• Posted on February 18, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Fifty-three people died Wednesday when a Metro Mass bus and a truck rammed into each other in a fatal accident at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region Wednesday evening.

Twenty-three other people have sustained severe injuries and are receivng treatment at the Kintampo Government Hospital, police say.

Among the deceased is a 3-year old child.

The accident happened around 20:00 GMT when the Metro Mass bus had a head-on collision with the truck that was carrying tomatoes. The track was believed to be traveling from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso heading to Accra.

Three out of four people on-board the truck perished in the gory accident immediately.The survivor has been identified only as Alhasan.

The three people who perished in the truck include the driver, Kwabena Boamah – also known as ‘Take and Die’ – believed to be a native of Akomadan Afrancho in the Ashanti Region, a man identified only as Oppong and an unidentified woman.

Nhyira FM’s Ohemeng Tawiah reports that due to an absence of ambulance at the crash site severely injured passengers were transported in KIA trucks and taxis, along with the dead.

Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander DCOP Maxwell Atingani, told Joy News Thursday an injured passenger on the Metro Mass bus said the vehicle developed a brake problem when it got to Techiman, about 62km from the crash site.

The passenger told police the driver of the bus stopped to fix the problem, but the mechanic who came to work on the vehicle failed to solve the problem.

However, the bus driver, determined to reach his destination, continued the journey with the faulty brakes and on reaching a sharp curve at Kintampo, the brakes failed and rammed into the cargo truck.

Efforts by a team of military, fire service and police to free passengers trapped in the mangled Metro Mass bus with registration AS 7131 Y for a several hours proved unsuccessful.

Reports indicate locals helped greatly with efforts to remove dead bodies and the injured.

Heavy traffic built on the road Wednesday due to the fatal crash as vehicles queue for the accident scene to clear, however DCOP Atingani says the road has cleared.

It took the intervention of the police led by the  Kintampo Divisional Commander, Chief Supritendent Desmond Owusu Boampong, to partially decongest the road.

-myjoyonline