The accident occurred at about 9p.m at the Luxury Bus terminal, near Abia Tower on the Enugu –Port Harcourt road in Umuahia, the state capital.
The truck marked KUJ 824XB and fully loaded with fertilizer, was travelling from Port Harcourt to the North, while the mini bus, a Mercedes Benz 608, with registration number XM 935 KJA, was heading to Obehie in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State from Osah, when the two vehicles collided.
The driver of the truck was said to have disappeared immediately the accident occurred, while the driver of the bus was said to have survived the crash, but still in shock as at the time of filing this report.
The accident, described as one of the worst on that road in recent times, took men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) up till yesterday morning to clear as the two vehicles blocked the highway.
The FRSC Sector Public Education Officer in the state, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwosu, told Daily Sun that they had to contact Aba for their towing truck before they were able to clear the wreckage of the crashed vehicles from the road. “We first rushed a total of 26 persons to the Federal Medical Centre for treatment before making arrangement to move the dead bodies to the morgue.
“We were there throughout the night with the police to avoid more crashes until this morning, when we had made sure that we had cleared the wreckage from the road,” he said.
He lamented the lack of operational vehicles, including towing trucks and ambulances at the Abia sector command, stating that the only one they had in the state was stationed in Aba due to the busy nature of the area.
Nwosu said the Sector had written to the state government several times for assistance, but whenever they were giving out vehicles, only the police, the army and the other security agencies were considered.
He explained that it would have been easier to move both the dead and the living, if they had an ambulance.
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