General News of Friday, 11 May 2007

Source: GNA

35 killed on the spot

...and several injured in accident near Winneba
Winneba (C/R) May 11, GNA-Thirty-five people were killed on the spot in a fatal accident involving seven vehicles near Awutu Beraku in the Awutu-Effutu-Senya district in the Central Region on Friday. Several other people who received various degrees of injuries were rushed to the Winneba, Korle Bu and 37 Military hospitals in Accra. Deputy Superintendent of Police Nicholas Gasu, Winneba District Police Commander and Mr. Solomon Quarshie Abam-Quaye, Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Chief Executive, who are among the people assisting to convey the victims to the hospital disclosed these to the Ghana News Agency in an interview.

According to them an articulated truck loaded with bags of cocoa from Accra to Takoradi Port crashed with an Abidjan-Lome-Nigeria passenger-bus, blocked the main highway and prevented the free flow of vehicles.

They said this resulted in vehicles coming from both sides of the road to pack, while the cocoa bags were being cart from the road to enable vehicles to pass through.

The Police Commander and the DCE said all of sudden, another articulated truck, fully loaded with bags of cocoa ran into five packed passenger vehicles, including a 207 bus injuring some passengers. Mr. Gasu told the Ghana News Agency later that the accident was very "horrible and (it was the) first time an accident has claimed such a high number of people in the history of the district."

He said the police are continuing their investigation.