Akosombo accident: Death toll rises to 9 as siblings search for missing father

The death toll of the fatal accident on Akosombo to Tema motorway has risen to nine (9).

Two victims – a girl and a young man on admission at Akuse Government Hospital died on Friday, according to Dr. Alhassan Mousa, Clinical Care Coordinator at the hospital.

Meanwhile six (6) victims have been discharged from both Akuse and St. Martins de Porres Hospital. Three (3) are still on admission.

Two siblings who survived the accident after regaining consciousness went on a futile search for their father who died during the crash but were yet to be informed about his passing.

The fatal accident occurred on New year’s Eve when a speeding Sprinter Bus with registration Number GN 8209- 15 carrying 18 passengers from Madina to Ho rammed into a faulty stationary Tipper Truck with registration GN 2064 -14 at the Kpong stretch of the Akosombo to Tema motorway.

Seven passengers died on the spot while the rest sustained life-threatening injuries.

Personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service and Police rushed to the scene to extricate the victims to the St. Martin de Porres Hospital, Agormanya and Akuse Government Hospitals.

Simon Kweku Tetteh, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Lower Manya Krobo who was at the scene described the accident as unfortunate. He promised to provide medical care to the victims whose families are yet to be known.

The MCE led a delegation of Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) to the hospitals on Monday.

Averagely, 2000 lives are lost every year through carnage on Ghana’s roads.

As at the end of August 2020, a total of 9,205 road crashes had been recorded in Ghana. These involved 15,459 vehicles, resulting in 1,585 deaths, according to Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, the Director-General, National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), said on Saturday.

The situation, she said, represented a relative increase from same period of last year with a 0.34 per cent rise in the number of crashes, 2.9 per cent increase in the number of vehicles involved, 0.13 per cent increase in deaths, and 1.26 per cent increase in injury cases.

However, there was a 17.61 per cent reduction in pedestrian knockdowns.