No fewer than 13 persons yesterday lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident along the Owerri – Aba Express way at Agbala near Owerri, the Imo State capital, when the commuter bus they were traveling in had a head on collision with a Mack truck, which was trying to overtake another truck

It was learnt that the bus which belonged to the Young Shall Grow Transport Com­pany, with 14 occupants was on its way to Lagos from Aba, when the incident occured.It was learnt that out of the 14 passengers, only one person survived. The other passen­gers, including the driver of the bus,died instantly, as a re­sult of the heavy impact of the accident.

The incident caused a grid­lock along the expressway as sympathizers thronged to the scene to identify the victims. The Police and the officers of the Federal Road Safety Com­mission (FRSC) had a hectic time controlling the surging crowd.

According to witnesses, the accident happened when a Mack truck coming from the Owerri end of the expressway was trying to overtake another truck at the Agbala section of the Owerri/ Aba Expressway. It was gathered that the driver of the Young Shall Grow bus, which was also on top speed could not manoeuvre properly, because of the ditch which was dug by the side of the road by the contractors handling the dualization of the express way.

They added that immedi­ately the accident occurred the driver of the Mack truck sim­ply escaped from the scene.

Emeka Ajoku, an indigene of Agbala, who witnessed the road mishap blamed the accident on the construction company handling the du­alization of the road, stating that if the contractors had not dug ditches on the sides of the road, the accident could have been avoided, as the bus driver would have veered off the road to safe himself and the passen­gers.

He said : “ It is the construc­tion company (Arab Contrac­tors) handling this project that is to be blamed for the terrible accident that claimed the lives of 13 passengers, because if they had not dug these ditches on the sides of the road, the Bus driver could have cleared on the road side. But it was not possible because I was here when it happened and the driver tried to dodge the truck yet the truck still rammed into the bus and pushed it to where it is now”.

Adding,” we are appealing to the federal government to sack this contractor because they are virtually doing noth­ing or we will be forced to chase them out ourselves.”