A fatal accident that occurred in Awka, the capital of Anambra State in south-west Nigeria, has claimed the lives of three in a family of six.
The accident, which occurred on Sunday at the Immigration Junction, along Enugu-Onitsha Expressway near Amansea, involved a trailer, heavily laden with brick in a 40-feet container and a Toyota Camry vehicle.
The Occupants of the car were Mr and Mrs Okechukwu Odinigwe of Uratta Village, Enugwu-ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State with their four children on their way to Enugu, but the Immigration Junction was where that journey ended for the couple and their first son.
According to eye witnesses, the trailer was descending from Arroma, en-route Enugu and was being hotly pursued by officers of the Civil Defense Corps, when the unfortunate incident happened.
Coincidentally, three children, including a seven-month-old baby of the dead couple, survived the accident.
At the scene of the accident, the car was in pieces and while ransacking to find any document that could give a clue to the victims, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps recovered a baby flask, hand bags and other personal items that could move one to tears.
Cries Of Pain
Many sympathisers blamed some of the federal security agencies for being responsible for every accident on the highway while others call for ban of heavy duty trucks plying the expressway in the day.
From the Road safety officials, it was gathered that the surviving victims had been taken to a nearby mission hospital while the dead – the man, his wife and their first son – had been deposited at Anambra State Teaching Hospital Mortuary.
At the Emergency and Accident Unit of the mission hospital, the three children were being attended to. Their cries of pain rent the air.
The seven months old baby had cuts on the head and other minor injuries in the body, while the other two, aged between six and four years, were also not fatally wounded.
The State Governor, Willy Obiano, on hearing about the incident went to see the victims at the hospital.
He commiserated with the families of the victims and prayed for the peaceful repose of their souls.
Governor Obiano assured them of the State government’s responsibility for the cost of their treatment and warned once again against reckless driving and spoke against heavy duty trucks plying the state roads in the day time.
He also directed the Anambra State Commissioner of Police to commence investigation into the cause of the accident.
It was barely two months ago that a petrol tanker truck lost control and rammed into a park at Upper Iweka, killing dozens of people. Now, three lives had been lost, leaving three orphaned children to face the reality of life, courtesy of a heavy duty truck.
Many urged the government to apply force in the implementation of a ban of heavy duty vehicles from plying roads across Nigeria during the day.