At least four persons were crushed to death when two manganese haulage trains collided at Wassa Manso, in the Mpohor District of the Western Region, on Friday evening.
Police sources reported that four persons including two females died on the spot when the collision happened on Friday night.
Six victims, who sustained various injuries, were rushed to the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital and are receiving treatment, the police added, explaining that the cause might be a brake failure.
Another source also told the Ghanaian Times that the incident might be due to speeding and signals failure, hence the fatalities.
“Our technical team is conducting an assessment of the incident and would report back soon.” a Ghana Railway Company (GRC) source also hinted.
Meanwhile, the Unit Committee Chairman of WassaManso, Emmanuel Diaw told journalists that, the head-on collision occurred at about 9:30pm, Friday evening.
He indicated that one of the haulage train was coming from Nsuta end was loaded with manganese ore while the other also emerged from the Takoradi-Kojokrom route, with empty trucks, had parked at WassaManso station.
He said “The one coming from Tarkwa, we are told had a brake failure. A survivor narrated that when the train got to Amantin, the train could not stop. Meanwhile, that of the Takoradi-bound train was stationery. The Tarkwa train collided with it and dragged it few meters away.”
MrDiaw added that the stationery train broke from the link and smashed its own engine, saying that might have killed the driver and the mate.
Later, engineers from Amandi Limited, came to help remove the trapped victims with two earth moving machines, he said.
The Minister for Railways Development, Mr PeterAmewu, has announced that a committee would be set up to investigate the head-on collision of the two manganese haulage.
He noted that the Wassa Manso accident was due to negligence.
The Railways Minister who said this in an interview during a visit to the accident scene at WassaManso on Saturday also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Mr Amewu said, at about 11am on Saturday, he received a call from Managing Director of GRC, informing him about the collision.
He said “It’s quite unfortunate. My understanding is that we lost about four lives and about two or three are in hospital and are in critical condition. This is unfortunate, it is mere negligence. I have not seen two trains colliding before.”
The minister assured that a committee would be put together as quickly as possible to investigate cause of the accident, adding,the industry was already not in the right mood for this to happen.
Mr Amewu said, the industry had lost one of its managers also in a train accident recently in Accra.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
