No fewer than three persons have been feared killed and some others still trapped when a trailer carrying a 40-foot container fell and crushed three tricycles at the Mgbaemene Bus Stop, near Upper Iweka, along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway on Thursday.
Our correspondent gathered that the trailer, whose plate number had been defaced, was navigating through the bad portions of the road inward Upper Iweka, when it fell together with the container it was carrying and landed on the three tricycles beside it.
It was also gathered that the incident angered residents and motorists who made a bonfire to protest the government’s inability to fix the very deplorable road.
One of them, who pleaded to speak without identifying himself, said, “The accident happened at about 7:20am. Due to the huge potholes that have taken over a large part of the road, tricycle operators usually use a small portion of the lane. By the time the affected tricycles were also navigating the road, the trailer was also doing the same thing.
“Before we knew what was happening, we heard a loud noise, and it was the trailer and its container that fell on the tricycles. It trapped the passengers. Three people have been confirmed dead, while some others are still trapped under the container.”
Another eyewitness and a resident in the area also blamed the fatal accident on the bad portions of the road.
She said, “I was on the balcony of my house on the other side of the road when the trailer was heading towards the Upper Iweka area. It got to that bad portion of the road and slowed down, and was navigating through before it fell on the tricycles riding beside it.
“It took the intervention of passers-by, drivers, and other residents before rescue efforts began, where some parts of the tricycles and some lifeless bodies were pulled out.
“The security operatives, including personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps, had a difficult moment controlling the rampaging crowd, which had besieged the scene of the incident in anger against the neglect of the road.”
Our correspondent, who visited the scene, observed that personnel from the Rapid Response Squad had cordoned off the scene while rescue efforts were still ongoing.
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