Five persons have died on the spot after a sprinter bus rammed into a stationary truck at Oframase, a suburb of Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region on Accra-Kumasi road.
The accident occurred on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
The Nkawkaw MTTD Commander DSP Foster Asante, in an interview with Agoo News, said a preliminary investigation indicates that the 23yr old suspect Sprinter driver Shadrack Boadu and other drivers were chasing each other for passengers.
He said, the police had information around 5:30am in the morning that there was an accident at Oframase, so they rushed there and called the Fire Service and National Ambulance to assist them after the sprinter bus with registration number, GC 6521-21 had slammed into a parked truck.
“When we got there we realized that there was a stationary Burkina Faso bound track off the road with an advanced warning triangle to signal drivers that, the truck has developed a fault. The sprinter bus drove towards it and rammed into the back of the stationary truck off the road which caused the accident. On the scene, we realized there were 11 passengers on board including the driver so we rushed them to the Holy Family Hospital while one woman was sent to Kenop Care hospital but upon arrival, the doctor on duty declared five dead. The bodies are currently in the morgue for autopsy and police are now trying to reach the family members. The remaining two who experienced a series of injuries are receiving treatment; others have been referred to Koforidua Teaching hospital. He stated.
He told Agoo FM news Ebenezer Kojo Nyavor that, “eyewitness account says the drivers were coming in a subsection, that is, two or three coming together and you know these buses they like to take passengers along the road. So it looked as if they were chasing each other with the hope the winner can pick more passengers so the driver didn’t pay attention and drove into that stationary truck.’’
According to DSP Foster Asante
the driver was discharged Sunday afternoon but later complained of extra pains so the police advised that he goes back to the hospital for further treatment adding that he will be arranged before a court.
DSP Foster Asante expressed worry over the situation the reason being that no amount of punishment could bring back the dead into life if the fault comes from the driver.
He maintained, “that is why we always tell passengers that, it is their civil right to ensure the drivers do the right thing on the road. They could have forestalled this occurrence if they have already cautioned him.”