At least, five persons have been confirmed dead following a fatal road accident involving a long coaster bus of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Renewal Movement and a tipper in Imo state.
The incident happened on Friday morning and caused serious traffic gridlock on the busy Owerri-Onitsha road.
Reporters at the scene of the accident, observed that the bus and the tipper crashed into a Coca Cola Depot shop at Orogwe,.in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state.
But an eyewitness said, although some persons were still held beneath the coaster bus, five victims died instantly and were evacuated by an ambulance to a nearby hospital.
According to the eyewitness, the Lord’s Chosen bus was coming same direction with the tipper from Onitsha Road heading towards Owerri when they hit each other and ran into a Coca-Cola depot house along the road killing three workers.
“The accident is between a long coaster bus carrying members of the Lord’s Chosen, and a tipper. The two vehicles were coming from Onitsha to Owerri but the coaster bus, in an effort to overtake the tipper, now hit it by the side and immediately lost control.
“The driver tried to control the steering but it ran into a Coca-Cola depot where over ten of its staff were knocked down by the vehicle.
“When people gathered and started pulling victims out from the car, we discovered that three of the Coca-Cola staff died on the spot, others were badly injured.
“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 Orogwe community who spoke on condition of anonymity said none of the Lord’s Chosen members died, but some sustained various degrees of injuries.
“it was actually the Lord’s Chosen’s driver’s fault. He wanted to overtake the tipper without considering the narrowness of the road. As I speak, so many people are still stacked under the Lord’s Chosen’s vehicle.
“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.”
The Imo State police spokesperson, Henry Okoye, confirmed the accident, stating that over five people have been confirmed dead so far. The deceased have been taken to the mortuary, while police have deployed a traffic team to the scene to assist with victim evacuation and traffic management.