Five passengers submerged in Owabi River

Residents of the Ashanti regional district of Atwima Nwabiagya woke up to disturbing news on Tuesday, following an accident that claimed five lives after a vehicle submerged in the River Owabi.

Having heard about the accident that occurred a few meters away from the River Owabi bridge, people from far and near, some of whom were weeping uncontrollably, thronged to the scene to help save the situation.

In a viral video, the bodies of the deceased were seen lying on the floor with plantain leaves covering them.

Reached on the phone, Mr. Francis Bobie-Ansah, the presiding member for Atwima Nwabiagya, who spoke to The Chronicle about the incident, explained that the Toyota Vits vehicle with registration number AS-7403-21 was submerged when it came into contact with a tipper truck.

Bobie-Ansah explained the driver of the tipper truck blew horns heavily, a development that might have scared the driver to ditch the car into the river.

Quizzed about the proximity of the accident to the guardrail mounted on the bridge of the Owabi River, Bobie-Ansah responded that it was about five meters away.

Mr. Ansah identified the deceased people who were on the vehicle when it was drawn into the said river, adding that the incident occurred on the Akropong-Darbaa road, where the River Owabi is located.

He disclosed the deceased as: Helena Yasan (40), a seamstress; Boamah Gyasi Eric (28), a plumber; Lordina Yasan (10), a pupil; Rita Agyare (41), a teacher. The fifth passenger added that a five-year-old girl named Doreen Yesan, who went missing after the incident, has been found and transported to the Mount Sinai mortuary, where the corpses of the deceased are being kept.

Asked about how rescuers came to the scene, he explained that a distress call was placed to the security agencies and volunteer group, who dived into the River Owabi, which was flowing in huge volume.

According to him, when the incident occurred, the town folks rushed to the scene and swam in the river and detected that a car had been submerged, and they managed to pull it up, after which they retrieved four bodies from the soggy vehicle.