Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki

Tragedy struck yesterday in Ebonyi state as two trucks crushed five persons to death at different locations in the state.

One person was killed at Ndubia in Izzi local government area of the state while four others were killed at Okposi in Ohaozara local government area of the state.

At Izzi, a pregnant woman from the Ndubia area of the council was crushed to death by a speeding trailer while on her way to a nearby market.

It was gathered that the tragedy struck when the deceased was going to the market to sell cassava to raise money to pay the hospital bill of her child, who was said to have been on admission for weeks.

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A witness told Daily Sun that after killing the woman, the driver of the trailer abandoned the vehicle and ran into a nearby police station to avoid being lynched by angry residents of the area.

In another development, four persons – a woman, her two children and a motorcyclist – were crushed to death in front of Urban Secondary School, Okposi along Okposi-Ugwulangwu Road in Ohaozara local government area of the state by another truck said to be loaded with building materials.

The woman, Mrs. Nnenna Okorie, wife of a prominent school teacher in the area, Mr. Chukwuka Okorie, from Mgbom-Enu in Mgbom N’Achara autonomous community, was said to be on her way to a nearby community, Ugwwulangwu, with her two children aged, 15 and 10, when the tragedy struck. The woman, her children and the okada rider conveying them died on the spot.

When contacted, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps Ebonyi State, Stella Uchegbu, said the two incidents have not been brought to her notice. The sector commander, however, disclosed that her officers on Wednesday rescued four persons, who were injured in another accident at Nkalagu in Ishielu local government area of the state along the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway.