Five persons died and 53 others got injured in an accident which occurred at Abepotia, near Nkawkaw on the Accra-Kumasi highway on Saturday, June 4.
Three persons died on the spot while two others passed away later at the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw where the injured were receiving treatment.
The dead were part of 58 Muslims, comprising 39 women, 12 children, and seven men travelling from Accra to Walewale in the Northern Region for this year’s Ramadan.
Chief Inspector Joseph Amakye, Station Officer of the Nkawkaw Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) said that at about 5:30am on Saturday, the driver of a Neoplan bus with registration number GR 4100-M, on which the faithfuls were travelling, lost control after hitting a speed ramp, veered off its lane and run into a stationary fuel tanker numbered GM 4150-14 at the shoulder of the road.
The Medical Director of the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital, Dr. Bernard Nii Torgbor said the hospital’s swift response to a distress call on the incident at about 6:30am helped to stabilise the condition of the victims.
He further stated that nine persons in critical condition had been referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi but hospital authority was planning to refer an unconscious pregnant woman whose condition could not be stabilised.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mavis Ama Frimpong, who visited the hospital to sympathise with the victims after taking part in a national sanitation exercise, commended the hospital staff and the National Ambulance Service for their quick response to save lives.
She used the occasion to advise drivers to avoid over-speeding, drunk-driving, use of mobile phones while driving and to abide by road traffic regulations.
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