About 10 persons were feared Wednesday after a container fell on a commercial bus along the Alaba Suru area of Lagos State. It was also a bloody Christmas celebration in Cross River as four people lost their lives after a truck ram into a private car.
Eyewitnesses accounts said the accident occurred about 9am.
The accident was caused by a mad man sleeping on the road, who a commercial bus was trying to avoid.
A mother, her four children, an old woman and four others were said to have been killed in the accident, with many other people injured.
One of the victims, a woman survived with two shattered legs.
An eyewitness said; ” the accident was caused by mad man sleeping on the road. The commercial bus was trying to avoid crushing the mad man while the container was trying to avoid crushing the commercial bus.
“It all happened this morning at about 9am. There was a commercial bus going to Okoko Iyanaoba, calling for passengers and there was a trailer laden with a container filled with vehicle engines.
“There was a mad man lying on the road and a commercial bus was coming from Orile axis. The bus swerved to the left to avoid the mad man on the road and the container swerved also to the left to avoid the commercial bus.
“The container was about to scale the culvert, but the container fell to the right, and fell on the bus picking passengers. Those sitting on the ground died. A woman with four children were killed. An old woman and four others died. A woman who survived had her two legs cut off in the accident.”
It was gathered that LASEM bus rushed to the scene to take the wounded to hospital and the dead to the hospital.”
Another eyewitness, who did not identify himself, said, “The two brothers who were at the back of the bus were trapped. They had packs of bangers that they just bought. The woman, who wore a shawl, and was carrying a baby, could not also escape. They all died, including the driver.
“It was only a lady that was at the entrance to the door that escaped with a fracture.”
After the accident, angry residents were said to have seized the mentally unstable lady and beaten her up. Some of the residents said it was the second time she would trigger such accident. She was, however, rescued by policemen.
At the rescue operation scene were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, policemen, and the Lagos State Emergency Medical Services.
The NEMA spokesperson, South-West Zone, Ibrahim Farinloye said, “The incident happened at 8.30am, but we were not alerted till around 11.46am. NEMA was able to mobilise other rescue officials to the scene. At the end of the rescue operation, a woman and her baby with two men died, while a lady was rescued alive. She however had a fractured leg. The corpses have been taken to a mortuary in Oshodi.”
The police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State, Ngozi Braide, said she would call back to give details on the accident.
In Cross River, four youths were on Tuesday killed, while several others were injured after a Mercedes Benz 911 truck rammed into them by the road side at the Akamkpa area of the Calabar-Ikom highway.
The incident, which occurred around the state’s college of education in Awi, Akamkpa Local Government Area, left the community in mourning.
NE gathered on Wednesday that the truck with number plate, Lagos FKJ 505 XC, was immediately burnt by angry mob, while the driver, Chidi Duruba, and the truck conductor, Edwin Oragunye, were thoroughly beaten up.
Two of the injured persons are Blessing Etim and Okechukwu Mbaka. The whereabouts of the six other injured persons could not be immediately ascertained.
An eyewitness, Ekam Emmanuel, said, “About 6am on Tuesday, some youths from Mbarakom community decided to go for a road walk along the Calabar-Ikom highway.
“A Mercedes Benz 911 truck with the number plate, FKJ 505 XC rammed into them from behind and the incident claimed four lives on the spot while several others were injured.
“This incident happened at 6am when I came to clean my shop. I met the youths jogging on the highway but suddenly a truck coming from Calabar on high speed climbed on the four that died on the spot.
“As a result of the tragedy, the Mbarakom youths got angry, the truck driver and his conducter were almost killed when they stopped to see what had happened. They were seriously beaten up, while the truck was set ablaze.”
Emmanuel said another truck, marked Cross River, KAM 45 XA, was also forcefully stopped by the angry mob and set ablaze. He added that the driver escaped being lynched.
She said the anger continued as the youths further burnt another oncoming Audi 80 commercial car, adding that the intervention of the combined team of military and police patrol teams brought the situation under control.
A police officer in the Akamkpa division, Eric Bassey, who is of the traffic department, confirmed the report. He said, “The DPO got an early morning distress call that there was a riot going on in Awi. He immediately gave us orders and on getting to the scene we discovered that three vehicles were burnt and some casualties were there.
“The casualties included some dead bodies, while several others, who sustained injuries, were taken to the hospital for medical attention.
“We were informed that the driver and the conductor of the truck that caused the accident were being held hostage at Mbarakom. We acted swiftly, but discovered that they had been beaten up badly. We rescued them and took them to the General Hospital at Akamkpa where they are still receiving treatment.”
He said peace had been restored in the troubled community.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Hogan Bassey, confirmed the incident, adding that the police had been able to bring the situation under control.
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