Accra-Nsawam Train Derails

By Edmund Mingle

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

THE Accra-Nsawam train shuttle of the Ghana Railways Company derailed yesterday morning at Amanfrom, near Pokuase.
A number of people were injured; seven of them seriously were rushed to hospital. Their names are not immediately available.
The train, which was carrying passengers from Accra and Achimota to Nsawam, derailed as it attempted to make a stop at Amanfrom at about 11a.m. on a hill in a swampy farming area not far from the Ofankor bridge on the Accra-Nsawam road.
Eyewitnesses said passengers in two of the coaches which were badly damaged were heard shouting for help as the coaches fell off the rails.
Yaw Gyimah, a poultry farmer near the spot of the accident, told the Times that he saw some passengers jumping off as pandemonium broke out in the coaches amidst fears that the coaches could fall down the hill.
When the Times arrived at the scene in the afternoon, two of the nine coaches were dangling off the rails.
Bloodstains were also seen on the coaches and the tracks
The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, but some technical men at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they suspected both brake failure and faulty tracks.
It is the second time in about three months that a derailment has occurred on the line.
The first one occurred in February near the Achimota train station while the train was transporting commuters from Nsawam to Accra in the morning.