From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
A fully loaded bus travelling from Abakaliki to Ikwo in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State yesterday plunged into a mining pit close to the road and got submerged.
The accident occurred in the evening along the Royal Salt Mining Company axis of the Abakaliki-Ikwo road.
An eyewitness and lecturer with the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI), Mr. Okachukwu Offia, said that he was driving right behind the vehicle when the accident happened.
Narrating the incident, he said: “I was driving from Abakaliki a little distance away from the Royal Salt Mining Company some minutes ago, I observed a white car driving along the same direction. And suddenly, the car fell into one of the mining pits full of water and just very close to the road.
‘It was like a dream to me while I followed the car a little distance away from behind. I quickly stopped other vehicles from both sides to observe the true position of the accident and while we observed more closely, we discovered that we could not sight the car nor the passengers.
“I quickly rushed with another private car owner to the Royal Salt company to report the accident and seek for urgent rescue, but the rest were more of protocols which could not render an immediate help.
“Who were the passengers in the car? Whose relatives were they? How could we rescue their dead bodies after about 40 minutes of no immediate solution? And when shall that particular pit and others close by be covered with earth? I was shocked and also wept at the ugly sight. May the Lord repose their souls, Amen,” he prayed.