Story: Della Russel Ocloo, Battor
TRAGEDY struck on the Tema-Ada Highway on Sunday night and yesterday when 23 people were crushed to death in two gory accidents.
The first accident occurred at Koluedor, near Sege, at about 8 p.m. on Sunday when a salon car was involved in a head-on collision with a 207 Benz bus travelling from Tema to Aflao in the Volta Region, killing four persons on the spot.
The second and bloodier accident occurred at Koni-Kablu near Dawa in the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region about 4 a.m. yesterday when a Metro Mass Transit (MMT) bus travelling from Mepe in the Volta Region to Accra crashed into a stationary truck, with registration number TG 6907 AH, parked on the shoulders of the road.
Fifteen people in the MMT bus were killed on the spot, while four others died later on admission at the Battor Catholic Hospital.
Among the dead was the Station Officer of the Mepe Police, Chief Inspector Hlolewu.
Fifty-five other passengers on board the MMT bus, with registration number AS 6059-10, sustained various degrees of injury and are currently on admission at the same hospital.
Some of the injured people who tried to respond to media questions from their hospital beds displayed memory loss and could neither remember their names nor where they were going to or coming from.
Others, however, could recount that the more than 70 passengers on board the bus were returning from Mepe after taking part in the celebration of the annual Apenortor Festival over the weekend.
The driver of the bus, Samuel Asamoah, 61, and his conductor were among the survivors and they are also on admission at the Battor Catholic Hospital.
When the Daily Graphic got to the scene about 10:40 a.m., scores of residents of Sege, Dawa and its environs had besieged the scene of the incident.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, the Ada District Police Commander, Superintendent John Yamba, said the stationary truck provided every signal to alert oncoming vehicles and wondered why the driver of the bus had crashed into it.
He stated that it was possible that the driver might have been dosing behind the steering wheel and, therefore, did not see the warning triangle placed some 50 yards away from the truck to alert motorists.
The Transport Minister, Mr Mike Hammah, who was at the scene to get first-hand information, bemoaned the spate of road accidents which, he said, cost the country more than $16.5 million annually.
"It is sad to note that accidents, apart from costing the nation huge revenue, is also the cause of low productivity, thereby retarding the country's development agenda," he stated.
That, he said, was impacting negatively on the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and charged motorists to adhere to road safety regulations.
He promised to ensure a full implementation of the Road Safety Regulation Act of 2010, which is at the consideration stage in Parliament.
The minister also announced a GH¢10,000 package by the government to cater for the medical expenses, among other things, of the injured.
While sympathising with the bereaved families, the minister commended the hospital authorities and the police for proactively responding to the victims and gave assurance of the government's commitment to ensure a reduction in road accidents.
Mr Hammah was accompanied by the acting Managing Director of the MMT, Mr Maxwell Awuku; the Board Chairman, Mr Antwi Gyamfi; the Executive Director of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr John Appiah, and the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of the NRSC, ACP Victor Tandoh (retd).
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Charles Hordogbe, and the District Chief Executive for the area, Alhaji Bubey Dzinadu, who were instrumental in conveying the injured to hospital, appealed to the government to launch a full-scale investigation into the accident.
The minister and his entourage later called on the Regent of the Mepe Traditional Area, Togbe Kwadzo Gli, to console him on the loss of lives, most of whom were believed to come from the area.
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