Autocrash kills 10, injures several others in Benin

By Isaac Olamikan, Benin

An autocrash in the early hours of Tuesday on  the ever busy Sakponba,  in Benin City, the Edo State Capital has claimed the lives of ten people and leaving several people weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Eyewitness account said the accident that claimed the lives of ten was the aftermath of a sort of competition for space by two lorries conveying sands to a yet to be disclosed location through the popular Sapele Road while two fully loaded commercial buses-passengers’ bus – were coming from the city centre-Ring Road-to the adjoining streets off Sapele Road.

“In a twinkle of an eye one of the tipper drivers lost control of his vehicle(brake failure) and rammed into one of the commercial vehicles and that resulted in a chain reaction where the other vehicle was also hit.

“Passersby were not spared as some of them were entrapped in the accident. Onlookers had a hectic time trying to rescue some victims and convey them to the nearby Specialist Hospital,” a source who preferred anonymity told Nigerian NewsDirect.

Youths in the neighbourhood as at press time were spoiling for war, threatening to raze the two tippers involved in the crash.

Meanwhile, a member of the state vigilante network who acted as a good Samaritan by evacuating some of the bodies to the hospital was reportedly stopped from leaving the hospital premises by its management.

He reportedly got respite when his colleagues made a reinforcement, stormed the hospital and rescued him.

Efforts to get the response of the relevant agencies to the accident as at press time was abortive as they were not picking calls.