THE Dzorwulu railway crossing in Accra turned into a scene of horror for hundreds of churchgoers, motorists and pedestrians yesterday when a cargo train ran over a 27-year-old gospel singer on her way to church.
Known as the ballast train, the carrier was returning from Sakumono after offloading materials needed for maintenance work on some of the rail lines, when it ran over the lady, identified as Deborah Ashitey.
Eyewitnesses said the lady was about to cross over to the Christ Co-Workers Fellowship International Church, which was about 50 metres away, where she used to fellowship as the lead singer, when the train crashed into her, severed her head c ompletely and left her mutilated body about four metres away.
Late into the day, the accident spot was still a scene attracting scores of curious people who turned out to catch a glimpse of the clothes, bones, hair, fingers, torn tissues and other body parts that had been chopped off the main body and which were still scattered around after the body and head had been taken away by officers from the Kotobabi Police Station.
According to the Crossing Keeper at the Dzorwulu Crossing, Mr Isaac Konotey, the accident occurred at about nine o’clock in the morning after he had blocked the road to stop vehicles crossing the rail line to allow the ballast train to pass.
He said just as the train passed and he reopened the road for vehicles, little did he know that the lady waiting few metres for the train to pass had been knocked down.
He said immediately the train passed, he entered his cubicle and picked his things to go home when just few metres away he saw blood on the railings.
Mr Konotey said when he looked further he saw the body of a woman with the head chopped off lying on the rail line.
He said he immediately realised that the lady he saw standing by the railing for the train to pass had been knocked down by the train.
Mr Konotey explained that the train was returning from Sakumono after it had gone to discharge ballast (stones) on the Tema Accra railway as part of their maintenance programme.
He said it was not the engine part that knocked the lady but part of the bucket attached to the engine thereby reducing mutilation of the body.
He, however, said her head and hands were chopped off as she was dragged for a few metres on the rails.
The crossing keeper said he immediately informed the Railway Police Station to come to the scene and pick the corpse to the Korle Bu Hospital for post mortem.
The crossing keeper said some policemen dispatched from the Kotobabi Police Station, however, arrived at the scene and with the help of some church members took the body away to Korle Bu.
The Pastor of her church, Pastor Frederick Kwaku Ntow, said no sooner had he started to preach than an usher of the church walked to him at the pulpit to inform him that the train which just passed had knocked down a member of the church.
He said there was pandemonium in the church and the whole congregation left the church hall and went to the scene of the accident, about 50 metres away.
The pastor said when the church members got there they saw only the body of the victim lying on the rails without the head.
He said few metres away they also saw the head lying near the rail with some of her chopped hands and fingers.
Mr Ntow said the people around warned them not to touch the body before the police arrived, and when they arrived on the scene they picked the pieces into a car boot and drove to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Family members said Deborah had been recently divorced from her husband with whom she had two children aged four and three.
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