TRUCK ILLS 3 BOYS (BACK PAGE)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

A Hyundai truck last Saturday veered off the road and ran into a section of spectators at a football match, killing three boys instantly and seriously injuring another one at Ntonsu in the Ashanti Region.
The truck, according to sources, was being driven by a driver’s mate.
Two of the deceased, Kwasi Awusi, 11, and Yaw Antwi, 8, were siblings, while the third, Richson Obuo, 6, who lost his father a few months ago, was his mother’s only child.
The mothers of the deceased children were said to have collapsed as soon as news of the death of their children were broken to them, and they were rushed to the Asenemaso Government Hospital where they are receiving medical care.
A nine-year-old boy, Prince Tawia, who was said to have been seriously injured after the truck ran over his abdomen, is also on admission at the same hospital and is responding to treatment.
The driver’s mate who was alleged to be driving the truck when it veered off the busy Mampong-Kumasi road, was said to have vanished from the scene as soon as the accident happened, but the police have arrested the driver, who was identified as Russell Kwasi Ankoma, to assist in their investigations.
The Ashanti Regional Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) Police Commander, Superintendent James Sarfo Peprah, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the incident, said the deceased, together with the injured boy, were among a section of spectators at Ntonso watching a football match last Saturday.
He explained that the truck, loaded with sachets of water, veered off the main Mampong-Kumasi road and ran into the spectators, killing the three boys on the spot and injuring the other after running over his abdomen.
Superintendent Sarfo Peprah said the diver of the truck was arrested after the accudent but the mate who was said to be driving the truck at the time of the incident, vanished from the scene.
The police have mounted a search for him to assist in their investigations.