Tears As Early morning auto accident claims nine lives in Edo

It was a fatal Tuesday for residents of Sokponba Road, Benin City, Edo State capital, as an early morning motor accident claimed the lives of not fewer than nine persons.

It was gathered from eyewitnesses that the accident occurred at Ogbelaka Junction, when a tipper, loaded with sand, collided with two minibuses, which were conveying commuters.

But for divine intervention, the eyewitnesses said that the fatality number would have been more as the Bureau de Change operators, along the axis by Erie Junction, had to scamper for safety, when vehicles, trying to avoid the scene, almost crushed them.

According to the account of the eyewitnesses, the tipper van involved in the accident was trying to overtake another tipper, but lost control and collided with the two minibuses, killing many of the commuters on the spot.

The accident caused a traffic jam as the exit routes to Asoro Street, Eri and Ogbelaka were completely blocked, leaving commuters to trek long distances to their destinations.

While witnesses claimed to have counted nine corpses at the scene, the Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Bello Kontongs, when contacted, said only four persons died in the accident.

“It involved a truck coming from upper Sakponba that lost control and ran into a white bus killing three people on the spot while one died on the way to the hospital. The injured victims have been rushed to the hospital for treatment,” Kontongs volunteered.