Four persons, including a two-year-old baby girl and her mother, died on the spot yesterday when a Mercedes Benz tipper truck, with registration number ER 2752 X, collided head-on with a KIA Pride taxi in which they were travelling.
The deceased, who were yet to be identified as of the time of going to press, also included two male adults who, together with the mother and daughter, were travelling on the Teshie Bush Road in Accra towards Teshie Camp Two.
When the Daily Graphic arrived at the scene of the accident, the police, together with officers from the Ghana National Fire Service, had managed to remove the four bodies from the taxi, which had been damaged beyond repairs.
The driver of the taxi, with registration number GR 6707 Z, together with another passenger yet to be identified, sustained injuries and were rushed to the La General Hospital in Accra for emergency medical care.
The driver of the tipper truck, 38-year-old Bright Botchwey and his mate, identified only as Ablama, however, escaped unhurt, but the police arrested them afterwards to help in their investigations.
The accident drew some sympathisers to the scene, many of whom wept uncontrollably, a situation which created heavy vehicular traffic on the road.
According to an eyewitness account, the driver of the tipper truck was speeding from Teshie Camp Two on the busy Bush Road during the morning rush hour when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the oncoming taxi.
Faulty break
When the Daily Graphic contacted Botchwey moments before he was sent to the police station, he said he experienced faulty braking before losing control of the vehicle.
“I realised that my brake was not working and, therefore, signalled the taxi driver with my headlight to give me way but it seems he did not see the signal,” he explained.
Source: Daily Graphic