Two people, including a taxi driver, have been confirmed dead following an accident involving a fuel tanker traveling from Accra to Kumasi at Asiakwa Junction on Monday.
The tanker, nearing Asiakwa Junction on the main Accra-Kumasi Highway, reportedly experienced brake failure. In an attempt to control the situation, the tanker rolled onto the lane for Accra-bound vehicles.
A taxi driver, nearing the junction, tried to avoid the rolling tanker but unfortunately got trapped underneath it.
The spilled fuel from the tanker ignited, incinerating both the taxi and the tanker beyond recognition. Miraculously, two passengers in the taxi managed to escape shortly after the collision, before the vehicle was engulfed in flames.
A truck approaching the Pacific fuel station from Asiakwa Junction failed to observe traffic regulations and collided with the burning tanker.
The driver of the Kia truck and his mate both sustained head injuries, but the mate died shortly upon arrival at Osiem Saviour Memorial Hospital.
One of the passengers who managed to escape from the taxi recounted the harrowing experience: “I tried pulling the taxi driver out, but I could not, and the fire had already started blazing.
I would have also burned because I did all I could to bring him out. He was not dead. There were two people, and I had pulled one out and was trying to pull the other out.”
