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A rider of a motorbike alleged to have crashed into the truck carrying explosives in the Appiatse community, has recounted how he got involved in the incident believed to have caused the explosion.
Philip Mensah, the rider, on January 26, 2022 narrated that he was heading towards Bogoso from Esereso together with a passenger he had picked on his way when the crash occurred.
According to him on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofoↄ show hosted by Kofi Adoma Nwanwani, he was behind a vehicle at close range when they got to Appiatse junction.
He said: “There was a blue ‘pragya’ tricycle joining the main street from the adjacent road. The tricycle crossed path with the vehicle I was following so the driver of the car applied an emergency brake, which I did too.
“The next thing I head was a bumpy sound, as of a car hitting my motorbike from behind. All I realised was we [with the pillion rider] were both on the ground.”
Philip noted that when they fell off the motorbike, it slid onto the other lane, moving with sparks of fire.
He added that he was not conscious of his surrounding afterwards, hence was not aware of what had happened regarding the motorbike and the vehicle carrying the explosives leading to the blast.
However, having been conveyed to a nearby hospital in a taxi by the help of a driver of the Chief of the area, Nana Ataa Brembi II, he heard the sound of the explosion while about receiving treatment.
“When the nurse came to attend to us there was a loud blast that frightened us so she dashed out and I followed.
“In about 15 mins later people were rushed in who sustained injuries and they were receiving attention. So I who was there for about 30 mins earlier wasn’t attended to.”
Meanwhile the rider of the said tricycle had also narrated his side of the story in an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA) earlier.
“I didn’t collide with the said truck, neither was I at the scene during the explosion,” the tricycle rider (name withheld) said to GNA.
According to the report filed by the news agency, dated January 23, 2022 and titled “Appiatse Explosion: I did not collide with truck-Tricycle rider”, the rider was receiving treatment at a health facility when he was informed about the explosion.
“I don’t know where that story is coming from because I was not at the scene. I did not see any truck around me when the accident occurred. I was in the tricycle with one woman and the two of us were carried to the health facility.
“The people that conveyed us to the hospital later informed me that it was a sprinter bus that it my tricycle and that the driver ran away after the accident” he is reported to have said.
The accounts given by the crash victims notwithstanding, the security agencies and the Minerals Commission are conducting investigations into the incident.
According to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, a committee has been set up to conduct independent investigation into the incident and to make recommendations to avert similar occurrences in the future.
