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Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Tragedy struck hapless road users in Ebonyi State with two fully-loaded trucks crushing five persons to death in two separate road accidents.
One was killed at Ndubia in Izzi Local Government Area, while another four were killed at Okposi in Ohaozara Local Government Area.
At Izzi, a pregnant woman from the Ndubia area of the council was crushed to death by a speeding trailer while on her way to a nearby market.
It was gathered that the deceased was on her way to the market to sell cassava to generate money to pay her child’s hospital bill, who has been hospitalised for weeks, when the accident occurred.
An eyewitness told Daily Sun that the driver of the trailer abandoned the vehicle and ran into a nearby police station to avoid being lynched by an angry mob.
In a similar development, four persons – a woman, her two children and a motorcyclist – were also crushed to death in front of Urban Secondary School, Okposi along Okposi-Ugwulangwu road in Ohaozara by another truck said to be fully loaded with building materials.
The woman, Mrs Nnenna Okorie, wife of a prominent school teacher in the area, Mr Chukwuka Okorie, from Mgbom-Enu in Mgbo N’Achara autonomous community, was said to be on her way to a nearby community, Ugwwulangwu, with her two children aged 15 and 10, when the accident happened, killing them and the Okada driver conveying them on the spot.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident has devastated the deceased’s family and thrown the people of Mgbo-Enu and the entire Mgbo N’Achara autonomous community into mourning.
When contacted, the Ebonyi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Stella Uchegbu, said the two incidents have not been brought to her notice.
The Sector Commander, however, disclosed that her officers on Wednesday rescued four persons who were injured in another accident at Nkalagu in Ishielu, along Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway.
She advised drivers to against over speeding and dangerous over takings, stressing that they were responsible for most of the accidents on the highways, especially during the rainy season.
‘We also advise the road users and the general public to always report any driver that over speeds or who indulges in wrongful overtaking, this will help to reduce the rate of accidents on the road,’ she said.
