Three escape unhurt in train accident

4-11-08
pAGE 20

THREE persons escaped unhurt when the vehicle in which they were was run into by a train on the Graphic Road yesterday evening.
The accident, which occurred at about 5.40 p.m, involved a Toyota Corolla saloon with registration number GW 2454 Y and a Tema-bound train.
The train was travelling from the train station at CMB while the vehicle was travelling from the Graphic area towards the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle.
The accident, which drew a large number of people from Adabraka and its environs, led to heavy traffic because the dual carriageway got temporarily blocked.
Passengers from Kaneshie or Accra had to alight from their vehicles and walk from the accident scene.
According to eye-witnesses, the driver of the Toyota car, which had stopped on the railway line due to heavy traffic, had to abandon the vehicle when she saw the training coming her direction.
They said as the train approached, the two other persons in the vehicle also jumped out of it, and since the vehicle was in the path of the train, it ran into its side, dragging it for a few metres.
“I saw the woman in Customs uniform get out of the vehicle, hold her head and start crying. We had to shout at her to move away from the vehicle before the train would crash into her,” Kofi, an eye-witness, said.
The driver of the train refused to talk to the press, saying that according to the Railways Regulations, they had to report to the Control Office first.
However, Enoch Siaw, a Clearing Agent, who was sitting by the driver of the Toyota vehicle, when the traffic control officer of the Railways stationed at the point of the accident saw the Tema-bound train around a curve towards his control point, he started shouting at the drivers to clear the way for the train.
He said at that time, the Toyota vehicle was right on the track with other vehicles in front and behind it, leaving the driver little room to manoeuvre, adding that they had no option, but to come out of the car.
No sooner had they come out of the car than the traffic started to move, but the attempt to get back into the car prove futile as the train almost approached the scene.