ABAKALIKI—NO fewer than 19 persons were
reportedly killed in multiple accidents involving different commercial
vehicles along the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway in Ebonyi State,
yesterday.
Vanguard reports that a staff of The Sun
Publishing Limited, Prince Ogbonna miraculously survived one of the
accidents described by eyewitnesses as ghastly.
Investigations revealed that the
accidents, which occurred almost simultaneously along the major highway,
included Ezilo axis of Ishielu council area of the state and 135,
Ezzamgbo of Ohaukwu council area of the state claiming many lives,
including the drivers.
Though officials of the Federal Road
Safety Corps, FRSC, could not confirm the accurate number of casualties,
one of the survivors of the Ezillo accident, who identified himself
simply as Ezekiel said that the accident occurred when the driver of a
white bus coming from Awka to Abakaliki tried to overtake a Sienna bus
and rammed into an oncoming bus from Abakaliki.
The eyewitness blamed the driver of the
bus he was travelling in for reckless driving, adding that the accident
could have been avoided if the driver had heeded several warnings from
passengers.
Ezekiel said the driver tried to
overtake the Sienna and ran into another bus coming from Abakaliki which
was also on high speed.Both drivers lost control of their vehicles,
leading to a head-on collision. He said the Siena bus skidded off the
road and somersaulted many times, killing so many people in the process.
In his account, Mr. Prince Ogbonna, the
Sales Representative of Sun newspaper, who was among the two survivors
of Peace Mass Transit ill-fated vehicle at Ezzamgbo said their vehicle
also somersaulted many times.
He confirmed that the driver of the
Peace Mass Transit was trying to avoid a Mercedes Benz parked along the
road when a trailer on high speed came from the opposite direction.
The driver according to him, lost
control of the vehicle and skidded off the road before somersaulting
from the bush path back to the centre of the highway, resulting to the
death of many passengers.
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Corps
has confirmed four deaths in multiple road accidents which occurred on
Enugu-Abakaliki federal highway Mr Sunday Iyamah, Ebonyi Sector
Commander of the Corps said that 23 persons were injured in the
crashes.
“The first crash occurred at Ezillo-Rice Mill Junction of the highway at about 4.15pm and involved three vehicles,” he said.
The vehicles include: A whiteToyota
Hiace car with registration number: XU 679 Enugu; another white Toyota
Hiace: MUS 78 XX and a Toyota Sienna car: FST 324 DC. “20 males and 11
females were inside the vehicles with 14 of them consisting of 8 males
and six females injured with two of the victims dead”.
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