General News of Friday, 1 January 2021

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Seven killed in Tema-Akosombo road crash on new-year eve

Nine others  in critical condition are on admission at Akuse Nine others in critical condition are on admission at Akuse

Seven(7) passengers have been confirmed dead in a gory accident which occurred on new year eve on the Kpong stretch of the Akosombo-Tema motorway in the Eastern region.

Nine (9) others in critical condition are on admission at Akuse and St. Martins de Porres Hospital. Five have been referred.

The accident occurred when a speeding Sprinter Bus with registration Number GN 8209- 15 carrying 16 passengers rammed into a faulty stationary Tipper Truck with registration GN 2064 -14 at the Kpong portion 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.

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.

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.