9 PERISH IN ACCIDENT IN NOBEWAM (PAGE 3, JAN 5)

Nine people perished on the outskirts of Nobewam near Konongo in the Ashanti Region on Sunday night when a Ford passenger mini bus travelling from Kumasi to Accra collided head-on with a KIA truck which was heading towards Kumasi from Accra.
The drivers of both vehicles and a child and her mother were among the dead, comprising three females and six males.
So far, only the driver of the Ford vehicle, with registration number AS1465-09, has been identified as Bob.
Eight other passengers also suffered various degrees of injury and were rushed to the Konongo Government Hospital for treatment.
Six of the injured passengers were on the Ford Mini bus while the other two were on the KIA truck.
According to the police, the accident occurred when the driver of the KIA truck, with registration number GR9321Q, veered onto the lane of the oncoming Ford.
The Ashanti Regional Police Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abraham Bansah, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the incident, said initial investigations revealed that both drivers were speeding in opposite directions on the Kumasi-Accra road, and the driver of the KIA truck did not observe road traffic regulation when he saw an articulated truck parked in its lane.
Explaining, he said an articulated truck, with registration number AS8103 S, which had broken down, was parked by the roadside without any warning triangle.
He said when the driver of the KIA truck reached the spot where the articulated truck was parked, he should have stopped to give way to the oncoming Ford mini bus but sped on.
To avoid hitting the articulated truck, he veered onto the lane of the Ford mini bus, which was coming from the opposite direction.
According to an eyewitness who spoke to the Daily Graphic, it took rescuers a lot of time to cut through the mangled vehicles to remove the bodies of both drivers from their respective vehicles.
He explained that the impact of the vehicles was so great that the drivers remained completely trapped in their front seats for over 30 minutes until firemen cut parts of the vehicles to remove their bodies.