One Police officer has been confirmed dead while three of his colleagues are currently receiving treatment at the Samatex Hospital- Samareboi near Enchi in the Aowin Municipality of the Western North Region.
According to a police situational report,the service vehicle with registration number GP-2694 fell and submerged in the river while chasing some suspected criminals on a motorbike.
The deceased has been identified as Constable Prince Amoah while the injured are; Constable Martha Ansah, Corporal Frederick Cobbinah and Constable Bright Adinkrah.
In the account of the police, the victims were officially detailed for duty as the Divisional Task Force team for the week and on their usual routine mobile patrols were tasked to assist personnel from Omanpe police station to cover a special inter-school sports and gala competition at Kwawu.
The leader of the team reiterated that while patrolling Enchi-Ellubo road, they had information that three unregistered motorbikes with suspicious bag-packs at the back of the pillion riders had failed to stop at the Asemkrom snap checkpoint and were advancing towards Enchi direction
The patrol team while on the lookout spotted the said suspicious motorbikes coming from Omanpe direction and accordingly signalled the riders to stop but they disregarded with impunity.
The team gave the said riders a hot chase and on reaching a section of the road which is about 2 miles to Kwawu township, the motor riders took the right direction on an adjourning road.
The team pursued them to about 150m from the main road and got stuck in an improvised wooden bridge on a river close to an abandoned mining pit.
Upon realising the danger, the service driver tried to reverse the service vehicle to safety during which the wooden bridge suddenly broke and the vehicle fell into the river with the occupants onboard.
The chief of Kwawu, Nana Kabaah II and the Policemen on duty at the inter-school gala competition divers were quickly rushed to the scene to rescue the victims and also recover the deceased’s body that was trapped from beneath the accident Service Vehicle inside the river having submerged inside the river.
Meanwhile, the victims were later referred to Samatex hospital-Samareboi where victims are currently on admission receiving treatment, whilst the body of the deceased was conveyed to Enchi Government Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy to ascertain the actual cause of death.
The Service Vehicle as well as the missing service rifles were recovered from the scene. The damaged Service Vehicle had since been towed to safety at a nearby fuel station.