Crime

3 die, others injured in lorry accident at Gomoa Potsin

Three women died on the spot on Thursday night when the Hyundai Urvan vehicle they were travelling in to Accra, crashed into a broken-down cargo truck loaded with wood, at Alhaji Quarters near Gomoa Potsin on the Kasoa-Cape Coast Highway, in the Central Region.

Three other passengers on the vehicle, who have sustained injuries, were on admission at the Winneba Government Hospital, in critical condition.

The deceased, believed to be in their 40s and 50s have been deposited at the mortuary at the same hospital. 

The Winneba Municipal Fire Service Commander, Divisional Officer II (DOII) Sekyi Owusu, who confirmed the accident to the Ghanaian Times in a telephone interview, said the accident occurred at about 7:30 pm on Thursday night.

He said the Hyundai 800 Urvan bus was travelling from Winneba direction towards Kasoa, when the driver suddenly ran under the broken-down cargo truck, which was parking on the shoulder of the road with the driver inside.

The passengers, according to DOII Owusu, were trapped under the truck, until personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service and the Gomoa Potsin Police went and rescued them (victims).

He said the driver of the cargo truck told the rescue team that he had been busily directing traffic after the vehicle broke down, to avoid any accident, but at a point, he became tired and decided to take a rest in the truck.

“Just within a couple of few minutes I heard a big bang at my back,”DOII Owusu Sakyi  quoted the driver as saying.

Asked if the driver erected any warning triangle, DOII Sakyi replied in the negative, but said that the driver told him that he had put tree branches on the road to warn other motorists, but realised that due to the fast moving traffic on the road, the tree branches were swept away.

He said the mangled Hyundai Urvan had been towed to the Gomoa Potsin Police Station.

D0II Owusu cautioned drivers against overspeeding due to the curvy nature of the road, and called on the Minister of Roads and Highways to redesign the Potsin junction road or construct speed ramps on the road to check over-speeding.

BY NORMAN COOPER

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