14 die in Ebonyi road accident

No fewer than 14 persons were weekend reported to have died in a ghastly road accident at Amasiri Secondary School junction along Afikpo-Okigwe federal highway in Ebonyi State.

File photo: FRSC operatives

The accident, which occurred around midnight, involved an articulated vehicle and a 14-seater bus conveying members of Assemblies of God Church, Isu, in Ohaoazara Local Government Area from a burial.

Mr. Roland Ogbuke, Afikpo Unit Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, confirmed the accident.
He said: “We received a distress call early morning of the accident, and I mobilised my rescue officers immediately to the scene of the carnage.

“Sources informed us that the articulated vehicle driver was trying to dodge a heap of sand on the road, but hit the oncoming bus which was in a convoy of vehicles, and crushed it against a tree some metres away from the road.

“A nearby quarry company used its heavy duty machine to cut the tree and parts of the bus before we could
evacuate the mangled bodies of the passengers.”

Ogbuke remarked that the crushed passengers were mostly women and that their relatives and church members who were in other vehicles joined in the evacuation.

He added: “Police particularly assisted FRSC in evacuating the bodies to the Mater Misericordae Hospital, Afikpo, because our vehicle developed serious fault on the way.

“We urge citizens of the state whose relatives failed to return from a journey on Saturday to visit the hospital to identify corpses of the relatives.

“We urge the public to imbibe road safety practices by shunning night journeys, over speeding, among other practices that negate road safety regulations.”

“I call on relevant authorities to expedite action on reconstruction works on roads in the area and across the state to save innocent loss of lives in avoidable carnages,” he said.

Vanguard