Ghanaians were greeted with grief at the weekend as two separate road accidents claimed 19 lives, leaving many injured.
On Saturday, August 21, 2021, nine (9) persons lost their lives when a Sprinter Benz bus they were traveling on got involved in an accident on the Apedwa stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway.
The nine who lost their lives were 5 females and three males, including a 6-month-old baby.
The driver of the sprinter bus with registration number GT-7394- 14, who is yet to be identified according to the police, was heading towards Accra from Nkawkaw.
The driver, in an attempt to avoid the traffic on the Apedwa Pig Farm Junction, overtook the cars ahead of him.
The police said, in the process he crashed into a DAF trailer truck with registration number 2459-T1-03, killing the nine on the spot.
The Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh, who spoke to the media indicated that “the other victims who sustained severe injuries were receiving treatment at the Suhum and Kibi Government Hospitals.”
In another development, ten persons were confirmed dead after two buses collided at Gomoa Mampong on the Kasoa-Winneba Highway in the Central Region.
The incident, which also occurred on Sunday, August 22, 2021, left several others with severe injuries of various forms.
The injured were taken to the Winneba Trauma Hospital for treatment.
The deceased were said to be made up of six men and four women.
Today Newspaper gathered that the two buses made wrongful overtaking resulting in the gory incident.
The Boss bus with registration number GN 4741-10 was said to have been coming from Takoradi to Accra while the Deploma Bus with registration number GS 6262-19 was from Accra to Ivory Coast.
One of the survivors, Emmanuel Quaicoo who was on board the Boss bus told journalists that, “It all started when our driver had an overtaking and was about heading to his lane but unfortunately, we realized the other bus had also made an overtaking”
He continued: “Our driver then tried to prevent the two buses from colliding but before we realized it, the other bus had hit us from behind.”
He alleged that the Deploma bus was driving at top speed, adding that about six persons died on the spot.
According to reports, two persons, including Emmanuel Quaicoo survived the incident.
The Winneba Municipal Fire Officer, Henry Asiedu who confirmed the incident to the media, noted that when his officers reached the scene, they immediately worked to free persons who had been trapped in the buses.
“My men were able to bring out about five people who were trapped. Two of them died but in all, we have about 10 casualties,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 10 remains have been deposited at the Winneba Trauma mortuary.
These two accidents at the weekend add to the numerous road crashes that have occurred already this year, and taken many lives while leaving several others injured.
Road crashes have killed more than 1,000 people in the country from January to April 2021.
This was disclosed by Mrs. May Obiri Yeboah, the Director-General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) on Thursday, May 20, 2021.
She said last year, 2,500 people died from road crashes, adding that the figure was the highest since 1991.
