Search

Update: 71 people perish in accident on Kintampo-Tamale road

kencitymediagh
Feb 18, 2016
2 min read

The death toll in the Kintampo accident in the Brong Ahafo Region yesterday has risen to seventy-one people.

Among the deceased is a 3-year old child.The accident happened around 20:00 GMT when the Metro Mass bus had a head-on collision with the truck that was carrying tomatoes. The track was believed to be traveling from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso heading to Accra.Three out of four people on-board the truck perished in the gory accident immediately.The survivor has been identified only as Alhasan.The three people who perished in the truck include the driver, Kwabena Boamah - also known as 'Take and Die' - believed to be a native of Akomadan Afrancho in the Ashanti Region, a man identified only as Oppong and an unidentified woman.

Eyewitness’s accounts say due to an absence of ambulance at the crash site severely injured passengers were transported in KIA trucks and taxis, along with the dead.Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander DCOP Maxwell Atengani in an interview said an injured passenger on the Metro Mass bus said the vehicle developed a brake problem when it got to Techiman, about 62km from the crash site.The passenger told police the driver of the bus stopped to fix the problem, but the mechanic who came to work on the vehicle failed to solve the problem.However, the bus driver, determined to reach his destination, continued the journey with the faulty brakes and on reaching a sharp curve at Kintampo, the brakes failed and rammed into the cargo truck.

Efforts by a team of military, fire service and police to free passengers trapped in the mangled Metro Mass bus with registration AS 7131 Y for a several hours proved unsuccessful. Reports indicate locals helped greatly with efforts to remove dead bodies and the injured. Heavy traffic built on the road Wednesday due to the fatal crash as vehicles queue for the accident scene to clear, however DCOP Atengani says the road has cleared. It took the intervention of the police led by the Kintampo Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Desmond Owusu Boampong, to partially decongest the road.