The victims were burnt beyond recognition and were given mass burial last week. However, today the family of Kenneth Chinedu Nwaokoro, a 24-year-old final year student of Information Technology of Caritas University, Enugu, who survived the accident, is rejoicing.

This lucky young man, from Imo State, was returning to Enugu to complete his final year project, after visiting his brother in Lagos. He is currently on admission at the Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu. Narrating what happened and how he survived, Nwaokoro told Saturday Sun: "When we left the park to embark on the journey, our bus was half filled; so the driver picked passengers along the road until the bus was filled, except for the seat beside me, which I did not allow anybody to occupy.

The excuse I gave was that somebody was sitting there beside because I didn't want disturbance and more so it was illegal for them to pick passengers along the road. The journey was smooth, so I slept off. "I was sleeping when the accident happened. It was the sound of the collision that woke me up. I woke up to see the driver struggling with the steering to manoeuvre the bus, but everywhere was already on fire immediately the bus collided with the tanker and there was commotion."

The struggle to escape On how the passengers struggled to escape from impending death, Nwaokoro said: "People where shouting and running towards the entrance, but the door was locked. The bus was one of The Young's new buses. There was fire everywhere and people were getting burnt. At first, I was confused, but I convinced myself that I would survive. I opened the window and jumped out.

The fire burnt my back and face. On landing, I ran straight to a local hospital close to the scene of the accident, where I had to part with N2, 000 before they gave me first aid. I then contacted my younger brother, who came and took me to Enugu." Asked if there were other passengers who escaped through the window with him, he said: "I noticed that a guy jumped after me, but he was seriously burnt.

I couldn't wait to check him because I was burnt too and my hands were fractured." How he bought the bus ticket Nwaokoro revealed that his name was not on the manifest of the bus because his younger sister bought the ticket for him. According to him, the sister's name was written on the manifest (seat 23) because when it was her turn to pay for the ticket, the official of the transport company asked for her name and quickly wrote it on the ticket before verifying if she was the one travelling.

He revealed that when the ticket officer realised the mistake, she said that since she had written the name on the ticket, there was nothing she could do. The only remedy offered was to enter Nwaokoro's phone number against his sister's name, while his sister's phone number was entered as next of kin.

Sister corroborates his story The lucky passenger's younger sister, Catherine Onyinyechi Nwaokoro, said: "I went to the bus centre with him and I bought the ticket. The cashier presumed I was the one travelling and issued the ticket in my name. When I saw the mistake, I called her attention to it and she said it was late as she could not alter the ticket. She said that since the passenger was my brother he could make use of the ticket.

That was why she wrote his phone number on the passenger's list and my own as the next of kin." No visit from the transport company When asked if anybody from the transport company The Young, had visited him, Nwaokoro said nobody had. His elder brother, Emmanuel Nwaokoro, told Saturday Sun that he visited the company's branch office at Jibowu, Lagos, where his brother boarded the bus and he was referred to Maza Maza, in Lagos, where the company's head office is located.

At the head office, the elder Nwaokoro said when he told the manager that his younger brother survived the accident, he expressed surprise, saying they did not know anybody survived. "When I told the manager about my brother's survival, he said they didn't know that somebody survived it. He told us to come back in a week or two weeks' time to fill insurance form and other relevant documents for compensation.

Source:

http://news.naij.com/31679.html

Sighs!

Its good to be a guy(possesses agility and manipulation) in situations like this..... Most of the obese ones falls victims most(rip)....

In the meantime, Lucky you..

I am so happy for this guy. ThankGod !!!!!

and people will still enter young shall grow motors.

otokx: and people will still enter young shall grow motors.

No, you should now try Old shall die motors, ewu.

Otokx,what's wrong with Young shall grow motors ?

@topic, he is lucky. I don't understand why passengers are locked up in a bus.

ifyalways: Otokx,what's wrong with Young shall grow motors ?

@topic, he is lucky. I don't understand why passengers are locked up in a bus.

I think it is vividly clear they don't employ sane driver,like most transport companies in nigeria.The cause of the accident was primarily the drivers fault.If he was sane,he wouldn't have tried to overtake a truck that was trying to steady itself with a flat front tire.

That was basically suicidal,rushing probably to make a return journey for more money and could have had a bottle napolean brandy by his side in the full view of the passengers who themselves want to get to their destinations in a hurry,undermining the fatal consequences.

@redsun

God bless you for your patience and wisdom, the problem with Nigeria is the very Nigerians living within. Some of those transport companies ought not to be in operation giving past cases of recklessness.

Why should the driver stop to pick passengers along the road? Why would the manifest be improperly done? Is there a separate monitoring unit to check the conduct of the drivers on the roads. FRSC ought to stop and check the drivers for trace of alcohol in their breath especially the transporters.

otokx: @redsun

God bless you for your patience and wisdom, the problem with Nigeria is the very Nigerians living within. Some of those transport companies ought not to be in operation giving past cases of recklessness.

Why should the driver stop to pick passengers along the road? Why would the manifest be improperly done? Is there a separate monitoring unit to check the conduct of the drivers on the roads. FRSC ought to stop and check the drivers for trace of alcohol in their breath especially the transporters.

My brother, is it not worse than even the brother of the deceased rather than campaigning for a change in law and putting the nefarious act of Young Shall grow drivers on the stop is busy running from one office to another looking for compensation! That tells you the mind set of the average Nigerian ...

otokx: @redsun

God bless you for your patience and wisdom, the problem with Nigeria is the very Nigerians living within. Some of those transport companies ought not to be in operation giving past cases of recklessness.

Why should the driver stop to pick passengers along the road? Why would the manifest be improperly done? Is there a separate monitoring unit to check the conduct of the drivers on the roads. FRSC ought to stop and check the drivers for trace of alcohol in their breath especially the transporters.

Ekene was the best.I don't know of now,but years back they are about the only public transport company i used to feel comfortable traveling with in naija. I use to appreciate Edegbe line and edo line too.There were relatively some kind of sane organisation and rules among them.