Nine persons were burnt to death yesterday, when a Mercedes Benz truck laden with cement rammed into a Mitsubishi L300 commercial bus, a Volkswagen Golf car and a refuse collection truck near Asaba Airport on the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha expressway.
The Mercedes Benz truck with registration number ASB 831 ZH belonging to the Dangote Group was said to be coming from Benin axis heading towards Onitsha in top speed, and apparently lost control and rammed into vehicles driving against traffic owing to the congestion caused by vehicles queuing to buy fuel at the NNPC Mega Station on the other side of the dualised expressway.
An witness told Saturday Sun that the Mitsubishi bus somersaulted several times because of the impact it had with the cement laden truck, and later trapped under the same truck.
According to the eyewitness, the vehicles burst into flames immediately before rescue efforts could be mobilised, and that heart rendering cries were heard ostensibly from occupants of the ill-fated vehicles.
As at the time of filing this report, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) had arrived at the scene and were making frantic efforts to rescue the victims.
Nine burnt corpses including five men and four females have been retrieved from the trapped vehicles, while others who were critically injured were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba for treatment.
The driver of the cement laden truck was said to have escaped from the scene, while the driver of refuse collection truck was said to be among the two surviving victims.
Charred remains of the dead were evacuated to FMC mortuary by officials of the FRSC in the commission’s Hilux van.
Sector Commander of the FRSC in Delta State, Mr. Rindom Kumven, who attributed the accident to route violation and over speeding, appealed to motorists to apply caution while on the highway.
Source: Sun News
