Northern Regional Police Commander's family in accident

THE FAMILY of ACP Awuni Anwubutoge, Northern Regional Police Commander, was involved in a fatal accident at Fufulso in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region during the early hours of Wednesday.

Though the police chief was not on the vehicle, his wife, five kids and a grandchild, including the driver of the vehicle, were reported to have been involved in the accident but escaped with various degrees of injuries.

The family was travelling back to Accra on a Tata Sumo vehicle with registration number GP 2098, after spending the holidays with their family head in Tamale, who doubles as the police chief of the region.

Police sources say a few kilometers to Fufulso junction, the vehicle fell into a pothole, thus destroying the hind tyres and causing the vehicle to somersault several times before landing on its chassis.

The trapped occupants were rescued by onlookers and rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital, where they are currently responding to treatment.

When reached on phone, ACP Awuni downplayed the severity of the injuries but said his entire family was indeed involved, adding that he sent them to Accra to enable the children to go back to school.

This is however not the first time vehicles have been involved in accidents on that stretch of road, causing needless deaths and injuries to travelers.

It would be recalled that two persons died in a similar accident involving the Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu’s car, last month.

Mohammed Abass Issahaku and Mallam Issahaku aka Knowledge, who were among four occupants travelling on the minister’s Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number GR 9282 Z, were reported dead when the car crashed headlong into an articulated truck with registration number GT 7709 T.

Sylvester Atona, the driver, and Hamza Osborn however escaped with minor injuries and are currently receiving treatment at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. They would be assisting the police to establish the real cause of the accident.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident, was reportedly traumatized thereafter.