A major road crash involving a Truck, a Tanker and a Luxury bus occurred
at about 1:00 p.m. on Friday, today at Ugboguii Village on the
Benin-Ore express road, the Federal Road Safety Corps is reporting.
No
fewer than 110 people died yesterday in multiple accidents on
Benin-Lagos expressway and Onitsha-Owerri expressway. This is coming
barely one week after 18 persons perished in an auto crash on
Lokoja-Abuja road. In the Benin-Lagos expressway accident, over 80
persons were roasted to death in multiple accidents involving a trailer,
tanker, luxury bus and other vehicles, while in the Onitsha-Owerri road
accident about 30 people lost their lives when a trailer collided with
two mini-buses at Ihiala.
Saturday Sun gathered that among the
dead in the Benin-Lagos expressway accident are the driver of the
trailer, his assistant and 57 passengers in the luxury bus and occupants
of other vehicles affected. Three passengers of the luxury bus, who
survived the accident, were badly burnt. According to eyewitness, the
accident occurred at Ugbogui, near Ofosu, in Ovia South-West when a
cement-laden trailer reportedly had a burst tyre and rammed into a
petrol tanker carrying fuel. The fuel tanker had hit a fully loaded
luxury bus, which burst into flames.
It was gathered that the
spillage of petrol on the road had set other vehicles on fire, including
commercial and private cars. About 20 other vehicles were burnt in the
process. At the accident scene, there were charred bodies of the
passengers in the carcass of the burnt luxury bus and other vehicles.
Some passengers in other vehicles, who had got down, were seen shedding
tears over the horrible death of the victims. The accident had caused a
heavy traffic jam, as personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)
stopped vehicular movement on both sides of the expressway to avoid
further disaster.
Confirming the story, an official of FRSC, who
pleaded anonymity, explained that the trailer was coming from Lagos,
while the tanker and luxury bus were travelling in the opposite
direction. FRSC personnel and the police had mounted rescue operation at
the scene of the accident. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital,
while the road was being cleared to create a thoroughfare for vehicles.
Also, firefighters, who later arrived the scene of the accident,
battled to put out the fire caused by the explosion of the tanker.
A
passenger, who was travelling to Lagos from the East, said they were
stuck in traffic for close to four hours because of the accident. "We
were in one spot for about four hours. Movement on both sides of the
road was stopped by FRSC. We had to make a detour through a bush path,
through villages to cross the scene of accident," he said. In a related
development, 30 persons lost their lives, while six others sustained
various degrees of injury yesterday, when a trailer collided with two
mini-buses at Ihiala, on Onitsha-Owerri expressway.
The two
commuter buses, which were said to belong to Rivers State Transport
Company, were heading for Onitsha from Port Harcourt when the accident
occurred at Ihiala in Anambra State, along the ever-busy Onitsha/Owerri
expressway, Anambra State. The trailer, it was gathered, was joining the
expressway, after offloading crates of beer when the two buses rammed
into it.
Thirty passengers died on the spot, while some others
sustained injury. When Saturday Sun visited the scene, the vehicles
involved in the accident were lying there, while officials of the
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and policemen were taking the dead to
the morgue, while the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Commenting on the incident, Chairman of Ihiala branch of Nigeria Bar
Association (NBA), Chief Emmanuel Egbunonu, expressed shock at the spate
of auto accidents in the area.
He appealed to the Federal
Government and the FRSC to help the communities along the expressway. He
also advised motorists to always observe speed limits and traffic rules
in order to minimise accidents on the road.
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