The cleaner who was severely injured in an accident involving a tipper truck on the Accra-Tema Motorway has died.
Isaac Koomson, a 56-year-old man who has a hearing and speech impairment, was left with serious injuries to his legs and hand after the truck rammed into one of the booths on the Accra-bound side of the highway on Monday morning [July 12, 2021].
He has been confirmed dead at the Tema General Hospital shortly after admission, according to Citi News sources.
Mr. Koomson was trapped in the debris. It took bystanders’ intervention to pull him out.
He was left lying on the ground helplessly, with many onlookers at the scene, before he was taken to the Tema General Hospital.
Son of the deceased, John Koomson had earlier spoken about his father’s harrowing ordeal.
“This morning, I received a call that my father has been involved in an accident this morning. He is deaf and dumb, and can barely do anything. So I rushed to the hospital only to see that both legs have been smashed.”
Following the demise of the father, he has been lamenting the poor conditions under which the late father worked.
“He has been going to work every day for about three to four months now, but has never been paid. I don’t know what is going on in this country that is making the hearing-impaired to be working under this condition”.
Two other victims, who were occupying a salon car that was hit by the tipper truck before it crashed into the tollbooth, have also been severely injured.
The driver of the truck, who was earlier arrested by the police, is also said to have sustained some injuries alongside one tollbooth attendant who reportedly had some minor cuts on the face.
The injured persons are all being treated at the Tema General Hospital.
The Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah has arrived at the hospital to visit victims of the accident.
“I was on the Spintex-Road-side, but a few meters away from the toll booth, I saw the tipper driver rushing to the booth at the Tema side. The rate at which he was speeding showed that something was definitely going wrong. Either his brake had failed or he was an inexperienced driver. By the time we realized, he had run into the toll booth “, an eyewitness, Kingsley Dunyo said.
Mercy Pinoko, a colleague cleaner who witnessed the incident, narrated saying:
“This morning, Koomson and I had finished cleaning the booths and were sweeping the street around when someone called me to take money in Booth 4. Then one of the police officers also called me to do something else, and that was when I heard a bang. I saw my colleague Koomson lying on the ground, with his two legs almost cut off, and an injury to one of his hands. The person who was in the booth had some cuts on the face.”
Police response
Tema Regional Commander of the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department, Chief Supt. William Asante, told Citi News that information he had received is that a “vehicle had stopped to pay the toll and then the tipper-truck driver carelessly ran into the booth.”
“This is the result we are witnessing now. It is a serious accident, but not fatal. Some people have sustained varying degrees of injury and have been rushed to the Tema General Hospital”, he added.
Meanwhile, the payment of toll at the Tema-bound side of the toll booth which was suspended by the traumatized staff for about four hours has resumed.
Monday’s crash adds to the numerous accidents that have occurred already this year.
