A broken-down tricycle, popularly known as an ‘aboboyaa’, may have triggered the chain of events that led to the deadly multiple-vehicle crash at Ofankor Barrier on the Accra-Nsawam Highway, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has said.

Senior Planning Manager at the NRSA, Felix Owusu, said preliminary information gathered at the scene suggested that the stationary tricycle may have been the starting point of the crash, which has so far claimed 12 lives.

According to him, a tipper truck carrying sand had stopped behind the broken-down tricycle, while two passenger-filled Sprinter buses also stopped behind the truck.

He said another tipper truck approached the vehicles at high speed and crashed into the stationary line of vehicles.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr Owusu explained that the location of the incident and the speed of the approaching truck may have made it difficult for the driver to avoid the vehicles.

“From the little we have gathered, there was a stationary tricycle, or what most people call an ‘aboboyaa.’ There was a tricycle which had broken down,” he said.

Mr Owusu, however, cautioned against treating the preliminary account as the confirmed cause of the accident.

He said the information available was largely based on accounts from eyewitnesses and that investigators needed to establish the exact sequence of events before a definitive cause could be announced.

“As I said from the beginning, all that we are hearing are accounts given by bystanders, and so we don’t want to rely solely on that,” he said.

He added that investigators would need to speak to surviving drivers and passengers to obtain a clearer picture of what happened.

“We are waiting for the police for a full report that will tell us what exactly happened and how each of the subsequent accidents or crashes occurred,” he said.

The NRSA is therefore awaiting the police report to establish the precise circumstances surrounding the crash and determine what may have caused the series of collisions.

The initial impact triggered a series of crashes involving seven vehicles — two tipper trucks, two Sprinter buses, two saloon cars and a tricycle.

The crash occurred at about 4 a.m. between the Ofankor Barrier and the John Teye enclave, leaving 12 people dead and 22 others receiving treatment at various hospitals.