From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
A head on collision between a vehicle carrying bales of stockfish and a passenger bus, has claimed the lives of three persons, with several others injured, along the Aba/Ikot Ekpene highway in Akwa Ibom State.
The vehicle conveying the stockfish was said to be traveling from Abia, but had made a detour, while avoiding men of the Nigeria Customs Service, on a surveillance for banned goods, when he collided with an oncoming fully loaded, 18 seaters passenger bus, from Ikot Ekpene. A witness, said the crash led to the death of three passengers in the minibus, while many others, sustained degrees of injuries, and were taken to a nearby hospital within the Ikot Ekpene end of the boundary between the two states.
“We were coming from Ikot Ekpene, when the accident occurred. What happened, was that the vehicle carrying stockfish suddenly saw a team of Customs officials and was trying to evade them, when the driver ran into an on coming vehicle with passengers. Three persons lost their lives on the spot, while many others sustained injuries and were taken to hospitals close to the scene in Akwa Ibom area”,
According to one of the villagers that assisted in removing the corpses to a nearby morgue, “the driver was over speeding as he tried to make a detour but was unable to control his vehicle.
a situation that led to it’s colliding with the passenger bus from Ikot Ekpene.”
