3 CHIEFS KILLED IN ACCIDENT (1B, JAN 10, 2011)

THE mission of three sub-chiefs of Agona Kwaman, near Agona Swedru in the Central Region, to attend a wedding ceremony of the daughter of their chief at Tepa in the Ashanti Region turned tragic when they lost their lives in an accident on the Accra-Kumasi highway on Saturday.
The accident, which also claimed the life of the taxi driver, identified as Yaw Baah, 40, occurred when he drove his KIA Rio taxi into a Man Diesel articulated truck which had been abandoned in the middle of the road without any warning sign at a junction between Apedwa and Anyinasin on the Accra-Kumasi highway.
The three chiefs, identified as Nana Baffour Otorbor, 78, Kyidomhene; Nana Amoah Sekyi II, 84, Benkumhene, and Nana Kwame Gyan, 93, Kyidombatan, and the driver died on the spot.
The only survivor was Nana Annor Akyemfo, 54, the Gyantuahene, who was rushed to the Suhum Government Hospital for attention. The bodies of the victims have been deposited at the hospital pending autopsy.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Kyebi Divisional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), ASP Bernard Ofori Amanfo, said the four sub-chiefs left Agona Kwaman at 2 am for Tepa in the Ashanti Region to accompany Nana Okaaku Yeboah, chief of Agona Kwaman, to his daughter’s wedding ceremony on that fateful day.
He said the chiefs travelled through Suhum and when they reached a spot between Apedwa and Anyinasin on the Accra-Kumasi highway at about 5.30 am, their KIA Rio taxicab ran into the rear of an abandoned Man Diesel articulated truck in the middle of the road.
ASP Amanfo said the truck, fully loaded with TV sets with a Burkinabe registration numbers 10 KK 1599 and 11 KK 1216, had no sign placed behind it to warn other motorists, a situation that made it difficult for the driver of the KIA Rio taxicab, with registration number GR 7393 10, to see the stationary vehicle.
He said by the time a team from the MTTU got to the scene, the driver of the articulated truck and his mate had fled the accident scene in an attempt to avoid being killed by some of the residents of the area who went to the rescue of the victims.
Meanwhile, following the death of the three sub-chiefs in the accident, the wedding ceremony of the chief’s daughter was reported to have been postponed.