Along Owerri/Aba road on Wednesday, no fewer than six persons were killed in a ghastly motor accident involving a 14-seater bus and a Mack truck, NAN reports

Eye witnesses told NAN that the bus had a head on collision with the truck, which was trying to overtake another truck along the Owerri-Aba Expressway at Agbala near Owerri in Imo.

They said that the driver of the bus was on top speed and could not manoeuvre out of the road because of the ditch dug by the side of the road by a construction firm handling the dualisation of the road.

An indigene of the place and an eye witness, Mr Emeka Ajoku, blamed the accident on the construction company handling the road project.

Ajoku said that the accident occurred as a result of ditch dug on the sides of the road by the construction company.

“The accident could have been averted if the bus driver was in a position to veer off the road to safe himself and the passengers, but it was not possible.

“It is the construction company handling this project that is to be blamed for this terrible accident that claimed the lives of many passengers.

“The bus driver tried to dodge the truck yet the truck still rammed into the bus and pushed it,” he said.

Another eye witness further narrated that the incident, which occurred in the morning, saw many sympathisers trying to rescue the victims after the accident before the arrival of the FRSC personnel.

He said that the driver of the bus was among the dead casualties, adding that those who survived the accident were all in critical condition.

“I doubt if they can all make it. It will only take the grace of God to keep them alive,” he said.

The sources said that the incident caused a traffic gridlock along the ever busy expressway as sympathisers thronged the scene to identify the victims.

The Police and the officers of the Federal Road Safety Commission had a hectic time controlling the surging crowd.

Confirming the incident, the state Sector Commander of FRSC, Mr Yusuf Salami, said that six persons from the bus died on the spot while nine were seriously injured.

He said the incident occurred as a result of wrong overtaking by the bus driver.

Salami said that all the surviving casualties had been taken to the hospital by good Samaritans before the arrival of his men to the scene.

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