ANAMBRA: Truck crushes two to death, injures four others

By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Two people were on Friday crushed to death at Kwata fly over junction in Awka, Anambra State capital when a heavy duty truck with registration No. XO 679 EPE allegedly failed break and ran into a stationary shuttle.

The driver who was rescued from the wreck by officers of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) came out unhurt with a woman carrying less than a year child, four other passengers came out with varying degrees of injury.

According to an eye witness, he said that while the truck was moving at a high speed, the conductor of the truck was shouting, “the break has failed”.

The man who identified himself as Joe Okafor said he was washing his car at a nearby car wash when the accident occurred.

He said: “The shuttle was discharging passengers near the traffic light when the heavy duty truck hit it.

“The truck was running at a high speed and the conductor was shouting the break has failed.

“A police man was trying to stop the truck from beating the traffic light but the truck could not stop and all that we saw was the truck climbing on top of the shuttle and crushed it to pieces.”

Meanwhile, one woman was trapped in between the truck and the shuttle while the woman sitting in front of her had her head buried inside the crushed engine of the shuttle.

Also, the woman that was disembarking from the shuttle was crushed by the truck beyond recognition and her mangled remains were packed into a Ghana Must Go bag.

Speaking with reporters at the scene of the accident FRSC Sector Commander, Mr Andrew Kumapayi, confirmed that two women died in the crash and four others survived.

While saying that the wounded are responding to treatment at the hospital, he explained that the cause of the accident was over speeding by the truck driver who wanted to beat the traffic light and rammed into the shuttle bus in the process.

Also speaking the Anambra state Commissioner for Transport, Dr Christan Madubuko, told reporters that the essence of the traffic light is to control the over speeding by motorists. “Had it been that the truck driver obeyed the traffic light, the accident would not have occurred,” he said.

The whereabouts of the truck driver could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.