From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Three people were pulled out dead, while two others were still trapped in a trailer accident which occurred at about eight o’clock yesterday morning, along the Ogbor Hill bridge in Aba, Abia State.
Many people who got injured in the unfortunate accident were said to have been taken to the hospital by sympathisers who volunteered to assist in rescue operations.
Daily Sun gathered that the accident occurred when a trailer conveying a 40-feet container, descending from the Ikot Ekpene/Opobo Road end of Ogbor-Hill, lost control after a brake failure and collided with two vehicles, along the Aba River bridge.
The Aba river had been a scene of serious accident and the situation led the immediate past administration of governor Okezie Ikpeazu to relocate the largest abattoir in the state, popularly known as Waterside market (Ahia-Udele), two years ago.
A witness said the vehicle, while descending from the Opobo-Junction area, began swerving uncontrollably, reaching a spot where another spoilt trailer was being repaired on top of the bridge and, in the process of trying to dodge the trailer, collided with a seven-seater Siena car and another stationary vehicle which it fell on, killing and injuring many.
Efforts to reach men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) met at the scene of the accident, proved abortive as they soon moved away from when the anger of the Aba public began overgrowing, following a failure to bring in a crane to lift the container up to rescue victims still trapped under the container.
Daily Sun also gathered that more than three hours after the accident, no towing van or crane was brought in by the road safety authorities, to remove the container which was still on top of the Toyota Sienna van.
A passenger in one of the commercial tricycles trapped in the accident said he and the Keke driver jumped off while other passengers at the back seat were not lucky as the container fell off on the tricycle, as the trailer hit the stationary vehicle and the Toyota Sienna car.
An eyewitness, Ikenna Nzekwe, expressed surprise that both state and federal governments had not thought it wise to construct a flyover across the bridge, to decongest traffic from Cross River, Uyo and Ikot-Ekpene, into the commercial city of Aba.
“I’m not blaming anybody, but since you’re a journalist, please take this message to the authorities. We need a final solution to the reoccurring accident in this bridge. This thing also happened two years ago. It happened three years ago and equally happened before the market was relocated. Is it not obvious that this hill is two dangerous for a straight road? How can we continue to allow our people to die like this?
“When will the government understand that these heavy duty vehicles shouldn’t be on the road during the day time? When will government agencies learn to remove spoilt vehicles on the road to save lives? These are issues we should be focusing on.”
Another witness, Anayo Ihueze, said: “This is a preventable accident, but see how it went. There’s no single rescue effort. All those rescued were pulled out by concerned Aba residents who came together to save lives. I was part of the committed citizens that rescued three parents here today, one with her legs completely damaged, one seriously injured and the other unhurt. In all these, we only saw fire service personnel, who didn’t have much of a role.
“The soldiers and policemen that came into the scene seemed to be interested in the security, maintenance of law and order and securing goods inside the container, while the FRSC officials came with nothing except their Hilux. What kind of a country is this?”
While some people were busy rescuing trapped people, hoodlums tried to steal some of the imported fairly used clothes inside the container, but were confronted by brave residents who resisted and intercepted them to recover some bales that had already been taken away.