A fatal accident involving a petrol tanker and an 18 seater mini bus on Wednesday claimed the lives of not less than 10 persons.
The accident, which was said to have occurred at about 2pm at Ehom in Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State, caused traffic hold up along the busy Ikom/Calabar road as rescuers tried to save the lives of some survivors in the mini bus.
An eye witness, Mr. Akpan Obajie, attributed the accident to recklessness on the part of the bus driver. The mini bus, a Nissan Urvan, with registration number
Akwa Ibom, XA 338 RNN, had 19 passengers on board, while the tanker, DAF, with registration number Gombe, XA 381 YDB, had three persons on board.
According to the eye witness, the bus, which was going from Obudu to Calabar, was trying to overtake another vehicle on a bend when it collided with the oncoming tanker.
Akpan said nine persons died instantly in the bus and one died later on the way to hospital while nine others including the bus driver were rushed to the general hospitals in Ugep and Akamkpa.
“The accident was a clear case of over speeding and carelessness by the bus driver. We deposited nine mangled corpses at the Ugep General Hospital,” Akpan added.
A parent of two of the victims who died in the accident, Mr. Justin Adie, could not hold his tears when he visited the scene of the accident yesterday.
Adie, who is a lecturer at the College of Health Technology, Calabar, said his daughter (Gethrude) and son (name not mentioned) were coming to Calabar from Obudu for their respective examinations when they met their death.
Apart from recklessness of some drivers plying the road, another eye witness, Mr. Joe Obida, attributed the accident to the bad state of the busy road.
While calling on the federal government to dualise the road, Obida also tasked authorities to issue driving license only to qualified drivers who have been certified fit to drive.
When contacted, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission, Cross River State, Mr. Taiwo Eseyin, confirmed the accident.
Eseyin said nine persons have been confirmed dead, while five survived.
Eseyin also disclosed that the dead bodies had been evacuated from the scene before the arrival of his men.
He advised motorists to avoid dangerous driving and excessive speeding, warning drivers to only overtake when they could see ahead, not on dangerous bends.
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