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Enugu auto crash claims family of seven, one other

By Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
11 June 2018   |   4:22 am
Tragedy occurred in Enugu State yesterday morning as eight persons died in an auto crash along the dilapidated Ugwu-Onyeama axis of Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

The accident scne

Tragedy occurred in Enugu State yesterday morning as eight persons died in an auto crash along the dilapidated Ugwu-Onyeama axis of Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

The accident involving a Carina E model with registration number CM 960FKJ conveying a family and a Toyota bus belonging to Onitsha South mass transit with registration number ENU 75 YY occurred at about 11:00a.m.

The bus was said to be heading for Onitsha, Anambra State, while the Carina was coming into Enugu. They were locked on one lane of the road following the bad state of that portion of the highway.

It was gathered that seven of the persons that died were members of one family who were returning to Enugu from their travel. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Enugu, Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the incident, said the two vehicles collided, causing serious impact that resulted in the death of the passengers.

“Following the accident, men of the traffic division of the Central police station Enugu were promptly alerted and on arrival, victims were rushed to Enugu State University of Teaching Hopsital (ESUTH), Parklane, where members of the family travelling with the Toyota Carina E car were confirmed dead and their bodies deposited in the mortuary of ESUTH,” he said.

He added that four others injured as a result of the accident are still receiving medical attention at the hospital while investigations have commenced on the incident.

Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Niger State has said five people were killed in an accident on Saturday along Lambata Kwakuti Road in Gurara Local Government Area.

FRSC Sector Commander, Mr. Yusuf Garba, who disclosed this to newsmen in Minna yesterday said the accident involved a car and a truck.

He said the accident involved a white coloured BMW with registration number BWR 264 SR and a Scana truck with registration number ISR 16 XU. The sector commander said all five occupants of the BMW died, adding that his men evacuated them to the Suleja General Hospital.

According to him, the cause of the accident was over-speeding and dangerous overtaking. He said the FRSC would continue to monitor road users to guard against overloading and dangerous driving.

Garba also called on road users to adhere to traffic rules and regulations to avoid unnecessary road crashes. “We have already embarked on a 24-hour patrol on all the federal highways to ensure safety of road users by enforcing traffic rules and regulations,” he said.

In a related development, the Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) said yesterday that 62 persons died while several others were injured in various auto crashes across the state between January and March 2018.

The TRACE Public Relations Officer, Mr. Babatunde Akinbiyi, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta. Akinbiyi, who stated that 173 crashes were recorded in the state during the period, explained that 190 persons sustained injuries in the incidents.

He said that 27 persons died in each of the months of January and February while eight persons lost their lives in March. “Out of these 62 persons that died in various road crashes, 54 were male while eight were female,” he said.

The TRACE spokesperson said that a great percentage of the accidents were due to usage of cell phones while driving, brake failure, over speeding, wrongful overtaking and tyre burst. He enjoined motorists to drive cautiously, obey traffic regulations and follow instructions from TRACE patrol teams and other traffic agencies.

The spokesman also said that the corps had on Sunday commenced its special patrol throughout the state ahead of the Eid-el-Fitri festival, adding that this would last till June 24.

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