· 18 burnt beyond recognition in Enugu highway crash
· Fatal crash claim 3 in Abuja
· Many drown in Bayelsa boat mishap
By Emmanuel OGBECHE, Sarah NEGEDU & Laraba MUREY
It was a deadly weekend of Easter as many were involved in fatal accidents across some parts of the country as well as a boat mishap that left many dead and several others missing.
On Saturday, 15 occupants of a Toyota bus were killed and burnt beyond recognition when their bus had a head-on collision with a Mercedes truck on the Port Harcourt-Enugu Highway.
Mr. Bisi Kazeem, an assistant corps marshal, and spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, confirmed the accident in a statement he issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Kazeem stated that the accident took place at the Enugu end of the highway at about 8.20 p.m.
“The victims have been given mass burial. All obstructions have been cleared. Enugu State Fire Service already extinguished the fire on the bus.
“The fatal crash is blameable on several factors including fatigue, which must have made one of the drivers sleep on the wheels,’’ he stated.
Mr Kazeem quoted the FRSC Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, as advising motorists to desist from night journeys to reduce fatalities from road crashes.
He added that Mr Biu noted that most fleet operators and other vehicle owners, including private vehicle owners addicted to night journeys, did so for selfish economic gains.
In another sad development, three persons lost their lives while six others sustained injuries after two vehicles collided along the Abuja -Kaduna highway.
The incident happened at Mararaban Ida village on Saturday morning, villagers said.
According to sources, the accident involved a Toyota Highlander with registration number KWL 198 KA and a Volkswagen golf with registration number MKA 89 ZY.
One of the eyewitnesses said that the driver of the Highlander, which was coming on top speed from the Kaduna axis dangerously overtook a vehicle and collided with the Golf car coming the Abuja axis.
He said: “The golf driver was coming from Abuja axis fully loaded with orange and other fruits heading to Gidan Abe village, when the Highlander jeep coming on speed over at a sharp bend after the diversion collided with the golf.”
According to the eyewitness, two corpses were removed from the Golf car, even as Road Safety officials struggled to remove the driver who was trapped inside the car.
The six injured victims were taken to the General Hospital in Sabon Wuse, while the three corpses were handed over to relatives of the deceased after they identified the corpses at the scene.
Another tragic incident occurred early Friday morning when a local boat capsized in Iwokiri, along the Okoroma community, Nembe waterways in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The boat, which was conveying passengers and goods to Okpoama in Brass Local Government Area, is alleged to have been overcrowded when the incident happened.
While the exact number of corpses recovered was in excess of 10, several persons are still missing. The chairman of Bayelsa State Maritime Union, Mr Ogoniba Ipigansi, was quoted as confirming that several bodies have been found following a search and rescue mission.
According to Mr Ipigansi, “You know it is a big boat. And the boat doesn’t have a record, unlike a speed boat. People just enter the boat like that with their loads. So we are still searching the area to see if we can find more dead bodies. Because even the owner of the boat doesn’t know how many people were on board.”
Mr. Kpe Jeremiah Ayebainemi, whose mother and child were on the boat but were rescued, complained that the boat was overloaded with more goods than its capacity.
“When I left for the waterside at Yenagoa to put them on the boat, the boat was tilted a bit to one side. They still loaded again about 200 bags of pure water at Okoroma even against the disdain of passengers, and shortly after they had left the port, it sank,” he said.
Mr Ayebainemi called for the relevant authorities to regulate and monitor boat operators.
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri expressed deep sadness over the boat incident.
In a press statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Dan Alabrah, the governor directed the relevant government agencies, including security agencies, to collaborate in the search-and-rescue efforts and ensure the recovery of all missing persons.
Diri sympathised with injured victims and the families that lost persons in the sad incident and prayed that God would succour them over the unfortunate mishap.
He added that the government would review the cause of such incidents to ensure the safety of lives and goods on the state’s waterways.
