By CrossRiverWatch Admin
In a miraculous turn of events, an editor at CrossRiverWatch, Mr. Jonathan Ugbal, survived a tragic accident on Saturday night near the mini Itu bridge head in Odukpani Local Government Area.
Tragically, at least four individuals, including one female, lost their lives in the crash caused by a truck that collided with a bus carrying passengers from Akwa Ibom State into Calabar.
“We had just crossed the smaller bridge after the Itu main bridge, known as the mini Itu bridge, when we were faced with two trucks blocking the road ahead. One of them ran into a Cross Lines vehicle,” Mr. Ugbal recounted.
Ugbal shared that the accident occurred at about 9:02 PM.
According to witnesses at the scene, it is believed that the truck, which was carrying stone aggregates and had no licence plate, may have lost its brakes.
“The first vehicle, a white Toyota Hiace bus with registration number Cross River BKS-425-XA, marked “Cross Lines,” saw the truck and quickly swerved onto the paved side of the road blocked by road contractors. Unfortunately, its tires burst, but thankfully, the passengers there all survived” Ugbal explained.
“The second vehicle, a blue Toyota Hiace bus with registration number Cross River GEP-206-XA, also marked “Cross Lines” was not as fortunate. The truck collided with its side while the bus driver tried to swerve onto the paved road. The impact pushed it down about 100 metres where it also hit the bus I was in. Our driver had no way to swerve left or right with the other truck blocking the incoming lane,” Ugbal said.
He added that, “two died on the spot. They were males, between early to mid forties. A third person, a lady either in her late thirties or early forties who was trapped with her body mangled in the wreckage, died shortly after.
“A fourth person who had been pulled out of the wreckage is also said to have died from his injuries while he was being transported to a medical facility. I can’t place his age.”
The driver of the truck fled the scene while other commuters struggled to rescue victims from the wreckage while waiting for emergency services to arrive.
The remains of the victims were evacuated by other vehicles before the Police arrived.
“I contacted several individuals at the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Akwa Ibom and Cross River State as well as the Nigerian Police Force. Despite their assurances, the FRSC never arrived. The police checkpoint is less than five kilometres from the scene, yet it took them an hour and forty minutes to arrive. Drivers said they kept denying that such an incident had occurred when they were told,” Ugbal told our newsroom.
He continued; “I had to call the Police Public Relations Officer whom I think forced them there about 20 minutes later. They arrived and spent less than 10 minutes, toured the scene and left.”
Thankfully, the bus company Mr. Ugbal had boarded sent two other buses to rescue them. They finally arrived safely in Calabar at 2:00AM on Sunday. They had left Abuja the previous day at 6:50AM.
See amateur pictures and videos below (graphic content):
