At least one person have been confirmed dead and many others injured, when a 40ft container, fell off a truck and landed on vehicles at Aba-Ogbo Hill Waterside bridge along the Aba- Ikot Ekene Expressway.
The incident involved an unmarked heavy-duty truck, a Coaster bus belonging to Anambra State government Transport Company, with registration number Akwa Ibom UYY 74 XA, a commercial Sienna car, and commercial tricycles.
Eyewitnesses say the trailer was descending the Waterside bridge on speed when the accident happened.
A bus driver, Magnus Ozor, said the truck driver lost control of his vehicle as he tried to speed past the busy road. Ozor, who described the scene as horrifying, said some passengers managed to jump out unhurt while others were not lucky as they were trapped under the container.
Special Adviser to Abia State governor on Aba Rejuvenation, Uche Ukeje, and his Homeland Security counterpart, Chukwuenye Nwaogu Alajemba, were among those people who visited the scene to provide assistance for the injured.
Some survivors, Sunday Ikechukwu and Miracle Okechukwu, thanked God for escaping by the whiskers. Okechukwu, who sustained minor injury, said he was coming from Arochukwu with the Sienna vehicle, when the container fell, shortly after the driver dropped two passengers on the bridge bus stop.
“While our driver struggled to come out, I managed to come out through the window and helped a lady, who sustained little injury in the car.
“But a man and his wife, who were in the front seat, were not so lucky as the container fell directly on their legs,” he said. Confirming the incident, the two governor’s aides blamed the incident on mechanical fault.
They said that the state government is making efforts to limit the movement of heavy-duty trucks in Aba within specific hours.
They assured that the government would pick the hospital bills of the injured persons, who were receiving treatment at an undiscovered government hospital in Aba.
