The tragedy which occurred
at midnight involved a vehicle and a 14-seater bus conveying members of the
Assemblies of God Church, Isu in Ohaoazara Local Government Area from a burial.
No fewer than fourteen
persons died yesterday in a road accident at Amasiri Secondary School junction
of the Afikpo-Okigwe federal road in Afikpo South LGA of Ebonyi State.
According to the SUN, Mr
Roland Ogbuke, Afikpo Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC), confirmed the accident.
He said:
“We received a distress
call early this morning of the accident. I mobilized 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.
“The impact sent the bus
crashing into a tree some metres away from the road. Bodies of passengers were
mangled.
“We have to mobilise a
nearby quarry company which used its heavy duty machine to cut the tree in
order to evacuate the mangled bodies of the passengers,” he said.
Ogbuke noted that the
crushed passengers were mostly women, as their relatives and church- members
who were inside other vehicles, cooperated with his officers in the evacuation
process.
“The police in particular,
assisted the FRSC in evacuating the bodies to the Mater Misericordae Hospital,
Afikpo because our vehicle developed a serious fault on the way.
“We are thereby urging
citizens of the state whose relatives failed to return from a journey on
Saturday, to visit the hospital to identify the corpses,” he said. “We urged
the public to imbibe road safety practices by shunning night journeys, over-
speeding among other practices that negate road safety regulations,” he said.
The Sun
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