FAMILY OF 5 DIE IN ACCIDENT (Page 21)

Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh, Asuboi near Suhum

TRAGEDY struck a bereaved family on Sunday night when an articulated truck fell on their private saloon car and crushed all five
of them to death at Mankrong, near Suhum in the Eastern Region.
The five siblings, made up of three men and two women, were returning to Accra from a family meeting, after concluding arrangements for the burial and funeral of their late father.
A family member of the deceased, Mr Kwabena Acheampong, who rushed to the scene, told the Daily Graphic that the five were natives of Nkwatia-Kwahu and were heading for Accra after the meeting where they firmed up the plans to bury their father this weekend.
At the time of going to press, their bodies were being conveyed to the morgue at the Suhum Government Hospital.
They all died on the spot when the Opel Vectra with registration number GR 3036 V, on which they were travelling, was run over by the articulated truck, a Benz, with double foreign registration numbers IIJ1880 BF AND IIJJ3534 BF. Both the truck and the private car were moving in the same direction.
The car was crushed under the articulated truck and the victims were trapped under it for many hours.
It took the combined effort of some foreign travellers and policemen from the Suhum Police Station almost 13 hours to retrieve the bodies from the wreckage. During the rescue operation, the driver of the articulated truck abandoned his vehicle and fled the accident scene.
The victims were identified as Lawrence Kom, Kwame Anum, Attah, Yaa Koranmaa and Akosua Oforiwa.
Chief Inspector A. Koranteng from the Suhum MTTU, who led the task force, told the Daily Graphic at the scene of the accident that the articulated truck, loaded with chippings of broken bottles, was travelling from Kumasi to Accra.
He said at Mankrong, near Suhum, while descending a hill, the truck bumped into four vehicles and finally fell on the Opel Vectra saloon car being occupied by the victims, killing all of them instantly.