Long-haul drivers who ply the Accra–Kumasi highway will tell you the road has its own rhythm. On most days, it’s a predictable mix of noise, fumes and the occasional impatient taxi weaving between lumbering trucks. But on Tuesday afternoon, the rhythm broke. A truck carrying crates of sardines tipped sideways on the shoulder at Kwahu Fodua, and within minutes the highway was transformed into something between a street market, a traffic jam and a farcical crime scene.
The truck, registration number AA 119CY, had been heading north toward Kumasi when the driver reportedly swerved to dodge a pothole and lost control. The container folded onto its side, spilling enough tins of sardines to stock a small supermarket. The driver and his mate were rushed to Holy Family Hospital in Nkawkaw with injuries. Everyone else — motorists, pedestrians, idlers — simply watched the drama unfold.
What happened next would have been comic if it weren’t also criminal.
As the dust settled, a few bystanders, ignoring the injured driver and the growing police presence, edged toward the crates with the feigned innocence of shoppers browsing a discount aisle.
One eyewitness, a motorist who gave his name as Kwaku, said he was stuck in traffic when he saw what he described as “the most unserious robbery I’ve ever seen.”
“Look, people were opening cartons like they were comparing brands,” he said. “One man even shook a tin as if to check the weight. The way they were doing it, you’d think they were in Shoprite.”
Another witness, a food vendor who sells near the bend, said she heard someone shout, “Ei, today God has done it!” before the first crate disappeared into a bush path.
But the jubilation was short-lived. A mix of motorists, bystanders and road safety officers confronted the looters, dragging three of them away from the scattered cartons. With reinforcements arriving from Nkawkaw, the opportunists were handed over to the Divisional Police Command — their sardine adventure over before it really began.
News of the sardine heist travelled faster than the police truck carrying the suspects. Within an hour, social media was in full swing.
One user on X wrote, “Ghana, where people see an accident and immediately form queue for free sardine distribution.” Another posted a photo of a sardine tin with the caption, “Evidence Exhibit A.”
Others were less amused. “This is why accidents turn into disasters,” one comment read. “People would rather loot than help.”
A third user summed up the mood with a line that quickly went viral: “Even the sardine didn’t survive the potholes.”
While the incident has generated no shortage of jokes, it also taps into a serious pattern on Ghana’s highways. When cargo spills (whether tomatoes, cement or, in this case, tins of fish) crowds often appear, and the boundary between helping and looting changes within a matter of seconds.
Police in Nkawkaw have said that the three suspects face charges related to theft and interference at an accident scene. Officers are also urging the public to assist rather than scavenge when road crashes occur.
For the injured driver and his mate, the day ended in a hospital bed rather than a delivery point. For the looters, it ended in handcuffs. And for everyone else caught in traffic at Kwahu Fodua, it was a bizarre reminder that even a simple tin of sardines can cause chaos when fate, potholes and opportunism collide.
What began as an overturned truck became, at least briefly, “Operation Sardine” — a cautionary tale served with a side of humour, and perhaps a reminder that not every roadside blessing is yours to take.
