By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
All five journalists involved in the road accident yesterday in the line of duty are responding positively to treatment. One of them, Ibrahim Abubakar of TV3, has been treated and discharged.
The remaining three journalists still on admission at the Afari Community Hospital in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality, including the only female reporter, Doris Lonta of Channel One TV, are also in a very stable condition under observation by the medical experts.
The Camera Operator of Multimedia is, however, receiving critical and specialist care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, having sustained a serious bone fracture in the leg.
He has already undergone a scan diagnosis to determine the extent of his injury to enable the doctors to prescribe the most suitable treatment.
One of the EPA staff who also sustained injuries through the accident has been discharged from the Afari Community Hospital, leaving one other.
These came to light when the Ashanti Regional Executives of the Ghana Journalists Association visited them at the hospital.
The visit was to show solidarity with the injured and offer them hope to bring relief from downheartedness and their emotional and psychological trauma.
Meanwhile, officials of the EPA have been on standby at both hospitals supporting recovery of the injured in addition to other logistical assistance.
The journalist victims have already received telephone calls from the presidency assuring them of solidarity and other forms of support.
The injured journalists were part of a group of media practitioners embedded in an operation of the Environmental Protection Authority, EPA, in a swoop on illegal mining sites in the Amansie Central district.
However, as a precautionary measure against an irate group of illegal miners, the operational team diverted its route from the Obuasi-Kumasi road to Ayamfori in the Central region and Bibiani in the Western North region through Nkawie in the Ashanti region.
However, on reaching Afari, the vehicle transporting some of the journalists and EPA staff reportedly developed a brake failure.
In an effort to drive to a safer ground, the vehicle veered into the lane of an oncoming vehicle, and in the process, rammed into a fully loaded tipper truck, resulting in various degrees of injury to the occupants.
