At least ten persons including a woman and her two kids Tuesday lost their lives in a ghastly accident that took place at Hausa quarters junction along Abakaliki-Afikpo road.
The accident involving 18 seater bus belonging to Ezza south local government area with the registration number NKE 28LG rammed into crane truck belong to a Chinese company with the registration number DKA 17YF.
An eyewitness, Mr Favour John who spoke to our correspondent at the scene lamented that the junction is prone to constant accidents.
“The truck was trying to turn all the way from Spera in Deo junction but the bus driver, instead of stopping like others who saw it and stopped decided to drive past but unfortunately he rammed into it”. It is due to over speeding that made him to ram into the turning truck”.
He called on the state government to put up bump at the junction to prevent further accident occurring at the area.
Another witness, Chibuike Nwali described as painful the death of the passengers who lost their lives a few weeks to the yuletide season and blamed the driver of the bus for causing this mayhem.
“The impatience of the driver led to this accident. The most painful thing was the death of a woman and her two kids who died instantly at the scene.”
Also, Mr Victor Ituma a resident of the quarters blamed the accident on the truck for turning at such a busy point on th road.
He said: “I was just coming out from my house reaching to this junction, this crane was turning when the bus rammed into it. My annoyance was that a truck like this with this capacity coming to turn at this junction where people are making use of should have had a revolving light or a security guard who must be positioned in this junction to direct road users”.
It was also gathered that the same driver was last week warned by an officer of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC for over speeding.
People responding to the accident had to use axe to break open the mangled bus to retrieve the bodies.
A pregnant woman who was rescued was still breathing heavily and was immediately rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki for treatment.
She and other wounded victims are believed to be in critical condition at the hospital as doctors and nurses were seen battling to save their lives. (The Nation)
