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A bus carrying a team of Ghanaian youth players was diverted into a river upon its return from a league registration exercise on Saturday.
Six Ghanaian youth players have been confirmed dead after a bus they were traveling in crashed into a river on Saturday, the Ghana Football Association announced.
The accident occurred on the Kumasi-Offinso highway in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
“The leadership of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the National Youth Committee (NJC) learned of the death of six youth soccer players on Saturday 18 September 2020 in Offinso, near Kumasi in the Ashanti region” said the GFA. announced on its official website Saturday night.
“The GFA wishes to express our deepest condolences to the family of the six young footballers who died after the car in which they were traveling was submerged,” the statement continued. “We are informed that the players and their handlers were heading to Afrancho after they had completed their Colts District soccer record drill in Offinso.
“The GFA and NJC have sent a team to Komfo Anokye University Hospital in Kumasi to visit accident victims.”
The youth cub, said to be the Africa Vision Soccer Academy, was on his way back to Offinso from the town of Afrancho, where he underwent registration for the upcoming District Youth League.
The accident victims, believed to be between 12 and 16 years old, were taken to Offinso St. Patrick Hospital, and local reports suggest that other players in the accident are in critical condition.
Unverified videos have appeared on social media that appear to represent the aftermath of the incident; one shows several other travelers with injuries, while another portrays victims rescued from the bus, which is believed to have blown a tire.
“There were 36 passengers on board,” DSP Edmund Nyamekye, Division Commander of the Offinso Department of Transportation and Motor Traffic of the Ghana Police Service, told Citi News. “Our investigation revealed that the passengers were made up of soccer team members returning after taking part in a league [registration].
“Upon reaching the place on the River Offin, as a result of speeding, the driver lost control of the steering wheel, ran off the road and entered the river.
“Six of the passengers between the ages of 12 and 16 died at the scene. Another 30 were injured. They were sent to St. Patrick’s Hospital for treatment.”
Currently in Ghana, all contact sports, including soccer competitions, are subject to a national ban as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, which has disrupted socio-economic activities around the world.
However, the GFA has opened the window for player registration in anticipation of the imminent lifting of the ban to allow the resumption of the various national leagues.
