Seven perish in accident at Asitey Hills, near Odumase-Krobo

Seven people died on the spot when the bus on which they were travelling ran into a valley last Saturday evening at Asitey Hills, near Odumase-Krobo in the Lower Manya Krobo municipality in the Eastern Region.

Majority of the remaining passengers, including the driver, Bernard Ababio, suffered injuries and are receiving treatment at the Atua Government Hospital and the Agomanya Saint Martin de Porres  Hospital, both near Odumase-Krobo.

Preliminary investigations by the police indicate that the Daewoo bus, with registration number GV 2497 – 14, belonging to the Volta River Authority (VRA), was descending the Asitey Hills, when the brakes failed, and the bus landed in a valley on the side of the hill.

The bus was carrying 60 passengers, mostly Roman Catholic faithful from Akosombo and its environs, who were returning from the funeral of the mother of a Roman Catholic Priest at Akim Oda, who was once a Parish Priest at the church in Akosombo in the Asuogyaman District.

The bodies of the deceased, made up of three males and four females, have been deposited at the Agomanya Saint Martin de Porres Hospital morgue.

Police

Police said further investigations would be conducted into the cause of the accident.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Akosombo Divisional Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Cephas Bediako, said about 8 p.m. last Saturday, the police had information that a Daewoo bus belonging to the VRA at Akosombo had been involved in an accident at the Asitey Junction near Odumase-Krobo and, accordingly, they followed up to the scene.

Follow up visits

When a team from the Daily Graphic visited the Saint Martin de Porres  Hospital at 10:40 a.m.yesterday, only one of the deceased, a 65-year-old woman, Kate Apetrorme, had been identified by her relatives, while the other six were yet to be identified.

Thirty-two of the victims were admitted to the Atua Government Hospital and 21 to the Saint Martin de Porres Hospital at Agomanya.   

At the time of the visit, six of the 21 victims who were admitted to the Agomanya Saint Martin Hospital, had been discharged.

A medical officer at the hospital, Dr Stephen Kusi said all the patients were in stable condition, but that those whose cases were more serious would be refered to the Koforidua St Joseph’s Hospital.

Atua Government Hospital

The story was not different at the Atua Government Hospital as parents, relations and loved ones besieged the facility, mostly at the theatre and accident ward to visit the victims.

As of 1 p.m. when the Daily Graphic visited the hospital, 10 out of the 32 patients, whose conditions were critical, had been referred to the Koforidua Regional Hospital and the Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Koforidua for special attention.

The Daily Graphic gathered that a nurse at the Atua Government Hospital, who could not stand the bloody sight of the accident victims, collapsed but was revived.

A medical officer at the hospital, Dr Mami Adams, gave an assurance that the medical team was doing its best to stabilise the patients.