Six perish in Ghana Good Friday accident

Six members of a popular charismatic church in Ghana, the Fountain Gate Chapel, died on Friday when the vehicle in which they were travelling was involved in an accident in the north of the country.

They included two daughters of the head pastor, the Reverend Eastwood Anaba, according to eyewitnesses.

They said the passengers had travelled from Accra to Tamale in the Northern Region by air and were continuing their journey by road to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region to attend an Easter Convention when their four-when car burst a tyre and crashed near Tamale.

The eyewitnesses said there were seven people in the vehicle before the accident.

Following a series of bloody crashes on the roads, the Ministry of Transport and the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) on Thursday reiterated their call to motorists to exercise restraint during the Easter holidays.

Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Transport, noted that the first quarter of the year had been characterized by “some disturbing fatal crashes” resulting in the loss of lives leaving many people in a state of despair out of permanent or temporary disability.

"We wish to remind motorists of the need to exercise care and observe the simple road use rules and best road safety practices relative to high speeds, drink driving, driver fatigue and overloading," he said.

An official of the NRSC has said more than 1,600 people are killed annually through road traffic accidents in Ghana.

Mr Kwaku Oware-Boateng, Ashanti Regional Manager of the NRSC, said 43 per cent of the fatalities involved pedestrians with about 23 per cent representing children below the age of 16 years.

These accidents, he said, cost the nation an average of 1.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.