5 dead, several injured in Owerri-Onitsha auto accident

Five persons have been confirmed dead and several others injured in an accident on the Owerri-Onitsha road in Imo state.

The accident which occurred on Friday, involved a coaster bus belonging to the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Renewal Movement, and a tipper truck.

The incident led to gridlock on the busy Owerri-Onitsha road.

Eyewitnesses confirmed that five victims died instantly and were evacuated by an ambulance to a hospital.

“The accident was between a long coaster bus carrying members of the Lord’s Chosen, and a tipper,” one eyewitness said. 

“The two vehicles were coming from Onitsha to Owerri but the coaster bus, to overtake the tipper, now collided with it and immediately lost control.

“The tipper driver and his conductor also died. The conductor was forcefully pulled out of the back of the tipper and the moving tipper climbed on his head and pierced the brain. The driver also hit his chest on the steering and bled to death. It was a horrible accident.”

A resident of the Orogwe community who witnessed the accident, said none of the Lord’s Chosen members died, but some sustained various degrees of injuries.

“As I speak, so many people are still stacked under the Lord’s Chosen’s vehicle,” he said. 

“We have tried to pull the vehicle out to no avail. We have used a heavy-duty vehicle to pull it out to see if there are some people under it, no way.”

Efforts to speak with officials the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on the scene proved abortive.

Further efforts to speak with the FRSC spokesperson also yielded little as his numbers were switched off.