Six persons meet their untimely death when a petrol tanker driver
trying to run away from police patrol checks rammed into innocent
persons.
The driver of the truck, who was said to have been
driving with one headlamp, in a hurry to escape from police arrest, sped
off and crashed into the pavement, thereby ramming into where tricycles
gathered to pick passengers to Uyo, the state capital.
Eyewitness
accounts said that, it was at that point that a tricycle was trapped
and all the passengers inside died in the ensuing inferno.
The rider of the tricycle was said to have died later in the hospital.
Narrating
the story, a resident of Obong Itam Junction in Itu Local Council, one
of the entry routes to the state capital from Cross River State and
Ibiono Ibom Local Council, Cyril Ekpenyong, said the crash occurred
around 8:30p.m.on Monday.
According to him, when the police
flagged the truck down and the driver refused to stop, the police did
not chase the vehicle, but out of fear that the patrol team was pursuing
him, he sped off.
He added that the tricycle rider and another man in the truck were
taken to hospital, where two of them were later confirmed dead.
“The
accident happened around 8:30p.m. We saw the truck as the police were
trying to flag it down because it was driving with one headlamp, which
was not bright. The driver did not mind the police as he veered to the
right of the policemen to escape.
“The police did not chase after him. He sped away thinking that the police were after him.
Within seconds from where the police stood, we heard a bang,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr.God’sgift Uwen, confirmed the incident.
He said the accident happened along Kilometre 8, Obong Itam, along Uyo-Calabar Highway on Monday around 8:30p.m.
According
to him, the truck rammed into the pavement, fell on to a tricycle and
killed five persons. He said an injured victim was rushed to a hospital,
but had not confirmed if he was dead.
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