TRAIN RUNS OVER APPRENTICE MECHANIC (Back Page)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A 19-year-old apprentice mechanic who allegedly smoked two rolls of a substance suspected to be Indian hemp and topped it up with a quantity of “akpeteshie”, a hard liquor, has been confined to a wheelchair after mistaking rail lines at Sekondi for a sleeping place.
In his high state of intoxication, the victim, Kofi Kuma, was said to have slept on the rail lines and had his two legs and right hand chopped off by a passing train, leaving him with only the left hand.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic while on his bed at the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital, Kofi Kuma made a confession that, “Master, I will not tell lies, I smoked wee, and took a lot of local gin after which I could not control myself any longer. Now this is my end.”
The accident occurred at a time wee smokers had sought refuge along the rail lines in Sekondi and Takoradi because of sustained periodic swoops by the police to clamp down on those criminals.
Police sources said so far, about four of such suspected criminals had been killed by moving trains in less than a month with an unspecified number receiving injuries.
The latest victim, Kuma, further confessed that he belonged to groups who always got together on the rail lines to smoke wee.
“That is because when we go there to smoke, the air would carry the smell away and the police and other members of the community would not notice we are smoking,” he explained.
He said he went to visit his friend at Ketan, a suburb of the twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi, where they usually bought the substance.
Kuma said smoking of wee, to him, was a normal thing and he could not heed the countless sessions of counselling from his parents and others.
When contacted, however, the Managing Director of Ghana Railways Corporation, Mr Ruphus Quaye, said they had received a number of reports of accidents on the rail lines, with some of them being fatal, and due to the frequency of the reports, they instituted investigations into the matter to find out whether the victims were actually struck by the trains or were killed elsewhere and dumped on the lines.
“We have said time and again that the lines are restricted areas and the only places people can cross are at the points labelled as level crossings, but now, people have created accommodation and commercial facilities very close to the lines and are also using the lines as foot paths and a hideout for wee smokers and thieves,” he said.