By Douglas Princemola
At least five individuals have lost their lives in a tragic road collision involving a long bus belonging to the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Renewal Movement and a tipper truck in Imo state.
The incident occurred on Friday morning, leading to significant traffic congestion along the busy Owerri-Onitsha road.
Confirming the incident, our correspondent present at the scene reported the grim reality of the situation.
According to an eyewitness, while some individuals remained trapped under the bus, their condition uncertain, five victims tragically lost their lives on the spot. Emergency services rushed to the scene and transported the deceased to a nearby hospital.
The collision occurred between the Lord’s Chosen bus and a tipper truck, both traveling in the same direction towards Owerri. The bus attempted to overtake the tipper, resulting in the collision and subsequent loss of control. The bus veered off course, crashing into a Coca-Cola depot by the roadside, claiming the lives of three depot staff.
Describing the harrowing scene, the eyewitness recounted how the collision caused casualties among the Coca-Cola staff, with three fatalities and several others sustaining severe injuries.
Tragically, both the tipper truck driver and the conductor lost their lives in the accident. The conductor was forcibly ejected from the back of the truck, and the moving vehicle tragically crushed his head. The driver sustained fatal injuries to his chest upon impact with the steering wheel.
A resident of Orogwe community, speaking anonymously, indicated that none of the Lord’s Chosen members perished in the accident, though some sustained injuries of varying severity.
According to the resident, the accident was attributed to the reckless driving of the Lord’s Chosen bus driver, who attempted to overtake the tipper without considering the narrowness of the road. Despite efforts to extricate individuals trapped under the bus, their attempts were unsuccessful.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel at the scene were unsuccessful, as they declined to speak to the press. Similarly, attempts to reach the FRSC Public Relations Officer were futile, as his contact numbers were unreachable.
