NINE PEOPLE died in two separate vehicular crashes within a spate of one week, at Konongo and Agogo in the Ashanti Region.
The latest accident, which happened at Hwidiem, near Asante Akyem Agogo at 8pm on Monday, resulted in six deaths and eight life-threatening injuries.
The first accident also occurred at the triple lane at Konongo, on the main Kumasi to Accra highway, when two articulator trucks collided last week.
Supt. Ohene Boadi Bossman, Konongo Divisional Police Commander, who made the disclosure, described the fatal accidents as unfortunate.
Touching on the latest one, he said a Ford Transit bus was coming from the Konongo direction and heading to Asante Akyem Agogo on Monday, at about 8 pm when a Kia truck, fully laden with tubers of yam, rammed into it.
Supt. Boadi Bossman said three people died at the accident scene, whilst the other three passed on at the hospital.
He said eight other passengers on board the Ford Transit bus sustained severe injuries and are currently at the hospital, receiving treatment.
Supt. Boadi, speaking on Hello Fm in Kumasi, said the police were yet to test the Kia truck to ascertain whether indeed, it had brake failure as it was claimed as being the cause of the crash.
According to him, the driver of the Kia truck, who survived the ghastly accident, had since gone into hiding, perhaps for fear of being lynched by a mob.
On the other accident which occurred last week, Supt. Bossman said two articulator trucks collided at Konongo.
The police officer said one of the drivers used a wrong lane and that resulted in the crash, which led to three lives being lost instantly.
He noted that drivers often get confused when they reach the triple lane on the Kumasi/Konongo highway, resulting in preventable crashes.
He said vehicles that are from the Kumasi direction are supposed to use only one lane – the outer lane – but they tend to use the double lane due to ignorance.
Supt. Boadi said vehicles from the Accra direction are supposed to use the double lane, but most drivers don’t know that.
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