IT was a Friday of carnage on the roads
in Edo and Anambra states as about 90 deaths were recorded. Over 60
passengers were roasted alive in multiple accidents along Benin-Ore road
while at least 30 persons were feared dead on Onitsha-Owerri
expressway.
It was a gory sight as more than 60 passengers were
burnt to death in an accident at Ugbogui village near Okada town in Ovia
North East council area of Edo State and Ofosu in Ondo State.
The
incident occurred at about noon along the dual carriage Benin-Ore-Lagos
road. It involved an articulated vehicle, a tanker fully laden with
petrol and a luxurious bus.
The Nigerian Compass gathered that the trailer belonging to Dangote
Group Limited, carrying bags of cement had a head-on collision with the
long tanker loaded with fuel as its front tyre burst forcing the tanker
to fall on the luxurious bus loaded with over 57 passengers.
The
tanker immediately burst into flames which enveloped all other vehicles
even as the occupants struggled amid wailines and cries for assistance,
nobody could come out.
Three persons were rescued from the luxurious
bus while the rest were trapped with charred remains of their bodies
visibly seen as eyewitnesses yelled but could not get near.
Some
of the passengers who struggled to jump out of the bus through the
window could not make it as the doors and windows failed to open as the
occupants were enveloped amidst think smoke emitting within and outside
the vicinity.
Most of the travelers who rammed into the scene
were held spellbound as no one could get near the tensed scene given the
intense tongues of fire which raged. There was a heavy traffic along
the route as travellers abandoned their vehicles while those who wanted
to continue their journeys found it uneasy to locate any possible
diversion out of the tensed area.
It took the hard effort and
intervention of men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) who
came later and managed to rescue the three persons alive from the luxury
bus, although the victims sustained severe burns.
The rescued victims of the accident were rushed to a nearby hospital close to the area.
Sources
close to the scene said the drivers of both the tanker laden with fuel,
the trailer and their motor boys also died in the carnage.
Besides, itwas uncertain where the vehicles were coming from and going to when the unexpected happened.
An
officer of the FRSC who pleaded anonymity when contacted on phone
described the situation at the scene of the accident as hectic as the
rescue team were not finding it easy with the traffic.
A team of police men drafted from the Divisional Police station in Ekiadolor were on hand to assist in the rescue operation.
As
at the time of filing this report the vehicles were still burning as
the fire from the scene raged endlessly even as fire fighting men from
the state were yet to arrive to quench the fire.
At the Anambra
accident, at least 30 persons were feared dead and about six sustained
various degrees of injuries when a trailer hit two Onitsha-bound
commuter buses on the Ihiala end of the ever-busy Onitsha-Owerri
Expressway, yesterday.
According to an eyewitness account,
trouble started for the Onitsha-bound buses that loaded to capacity from
Port Harcourt, Rivers State when on getting to Ihiala, they were hit by
a trailer that has just finished on-loading crates ofbeer at a depot.
On
reversing, the trailer hit the two on-coming pasenger buses, with the
inscription, Rivers State Transport Company and in turn the two buses
hit another trailer that was heading to the same direction with them and
both summersaulted killing most of the passengers on board, instantly.
Reacting
the development, Chairman of Ihiala branch of Nigeria Bar Association,
NBA, Chief Emmanuel Egbunonu, expressed shock at the spate of auto
accidents in the area and urged the Federal Government to come to the
rescue by looking into the cause with a view to solving it.
The
NBA boss recalled that in the recent time so many lives were lost on the
said route without government doing anything to rekindle the heart of
the people.
When this reporter visited the scene, officials of
the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC were seen along with Police cops,
busy taking the dead to a morgue while those that sustained injuries
were also rushed to nearby hospitals.
13:32
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