By Calitown
At least three persons died and scores remain in critical condition after a 40-feet, three-axle truck was involved in a fatal road crash in Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State section of the Ikom/Calabar highway, early this morning.
An on-the-spot assessment of the crash by www.calitown.com revealed that the unfortunate crash was caused by an illegal road block mounted by yet-to-be-identified persons, close to the permanent site of the Federal Polytechnic, Ugep.
Sources at the scene of the crash informed us that the vehicle, traveling towards Calabar, mistook the illegal checkpoint for a robbery point after the operators forcefully attempted to stop the truck, hauling logs of wood at it and causing the truck to veer off the road and run into obstacles off the road that made it crash.
“This truck crashed because of this illegal checkpoint. We have been complaining that this illegal checkpoint and several others like this, are simply in place to collect money and remit to politicians. These checkpoints serve only the interest of these politicians; now that this truck has crashed and people have lost their lives, you can see that the boys who were here have all taken off”, a source at the scene told www.calitown.com
Contacted on the phone, Cross River State Commissioner of Police, CP Gyogon Augustine Grimah, informed www.calitown.com, who has consistently pushed for the dismantling of these checkpoints, informed that he was presently out of the State but has directed the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in Ugep to get on top of the situation.
At the time of filing this report, men of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, were on ground conveying the dead and wounded to the General Hospital, Ugep.