Nineteen people perished in three gory accidents, including four student nurses of the Tanoso Community Health Nursing Training School, in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, and at Gomoa Mprumeim on the Apam Junction-Winneba road in the Central Region yesterday.
Out of the number, 14 people, comprising 12 females and two males, died on the spot when an articulated trailer from Accra collided with a Benz Sprinter, which was travelling from the opposite direction to Accra, at Gomoa Mprumeim yesterday afternoon.
Confirming the incident to the media, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Adu Boahene of the Apam District Command who gave the registration number of the articulated trailer as GE 3282-X, and that of the Benz Sprinter as GM 1129-16, said the identities of the victims were yet to be established.
Abesim accident
Two of the accidents occurred in the Sunyani metropolis. In the first of the two accidents, four final-year student nurses of the Tanoso Community Health Nursing Training School died in an accident at Abesim, near Sunyani, in the Brong Ahafo Region at dawn yesterday, when they were returning to school after attending a socialisation programme.
They have been identified as Florence Osei Tutu, 23, Dora Naza, 24, Gifty Yeboah, 24, and Vivian Coffie, 24.
Three of the students died on the spot, while the fourth student died later in the day after she had been conveyed, together with Bernard Oppong Gyamfi, the driver of a Nissan Primera, with registration number BA 486 -13, to the Sunyani Regional Hospital.
The incident that has thrown the school into a state of mourning, is one of two accidents which occurred in the Sunyani municipality early yesterday.
The second accident, involving an unregistered taxi, also claimed the life of the driver who has been identified as Joseph Naamonwule, 30.
MTTD briefing
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, the Brong Ahafo Regional Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), Superintendent Daniel Oppong Asirifi, said the students were returning from a socialisation programme in Sunyani when they were involved in the fatal accident.
According to him, the driver, who was driving towards Abesim, offered the four students a lift at Dreamers’ Spot, a popular eatery and drinking spot, opposite the Sunyani Senior High School, around midnight.
On reaching the Glamossey Hotel Junction at Abesim, the driver is said to have lost control of the steering wheel, somersaulted and hit a number of trees and a culvert before eventually landing on its roof at about 12.10 a.m.
Supt Asirifi explained that the four students and the driver were trapped in the mangled car, and it took the rescue team of the Ghana National Fire Service some time before they could remove them.
Several people had gathered at the scene when the Daily Graphic visited the spot.
It was observed that several parts of the car had been detached from its main body after the accident.
But for the trees, the car would have entered a nearby welding shop to cause further devastation.
They have been identified as Florence Osei Tutu, 23, Dora Naza, 24, Gifty Yeboah, 24, and Vivian Coffie, 24.
School authorities
A tutor of the school, Mr Solomon Nyarko, who was at the MTTD to confirm reports that some of the students were involved in the accident, told the Daily Graphic that the rest of the students “are devastated and traumatised.”
According to him, the students were supposed to be in bed by 10 p.m. and wondered why they were out at that time of the night.
The headmistress of the school, who looked visibly shocked and worried, refused to provide her name and even talk to the media.
The bodies of the four students have been deposited at the Regional Hospital for preservation and autopsy, while the driver is receiving treatment at the same hospital.
Family members
Some family members of the deceased wailed uncontrollably at the MTTD as they went to make enquiries about the death of their relatives.
Second accident
About the second accident, Supt Asirifi told the Daily Graphic that Naamonwule, the driver who was driving towards Sunyani, lost control and hit a culvert before running into a ditch.
Even though he was rescued and sent to the Sunyani Municipal Hospital at dawn, he died at about
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