More East-West Road Tragedy: Two Feared Drowned As Truck Knocks SUV Into River

As the federal government continues to dilly dally over the reconstruction of the Port-Harcourt/Eleme part of the East-West Road, two people were feared to have drowned in Aleto River along the Eleme section of the East-West road in Rivers State when the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) in which they were traveling was knocked over the bridge by a truck laden with a 40-ft container that fell over on the bridge.
Witnesses said the truck was descending the hill from Onne end of the road when it lost control and rammed into the SUV with the Lagos plate number: KJA 90 CD, overturning in the process and spilling the content of the container, a dark chemical with a choking and offensive smell.
One of the occupants of the SUV managed to find his way out of the car and was rescued by people that came to help in a canoe. Unfortunately, the other occupants were trapped in the car, which fell to the bed of the river.
The accident occurred between 10 and 11am but, it was not until 3.15pm that a 46-ton crane from Kerry Logistics arrived to clear the wreckage of the truck and perhaps lift the submerged bus from the bed of the river.
Eleme Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mrs. C.L. Nwanne, who led rescue and traffic control operations said she could not immediately give the details of the accident. “Let’s wait until we have finished the operations. I cannot say anything now,” she told National Point.
One woman, who came to the scene crying, said the survivor of the accident was her son while one of those stuck in the submerged car was her uncle’s son.
Only on Monday, October 10, a truck conveying a container from Onne Port fell on a 14-seater bus near Eleme New Town on the East-West Road, killing several passengers trapped in the bus. The effect of the accident was a traffic lockdown that lasted for two days.
The chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Dr. Joseph Obele, described Friday’s accident as unfortunate, especially coming after the earlier accident near Eleme New Town.
He warned that the threat by IPMAN to suspend supply and distribution of petroleum products within 14 days, if government fails to reconstruct the road, was real and urged government to act urgently.
“We cannot continue to watch conveyors of petroleum products fall on the bad road and waste our capital and kill our people,” Dr. Obele said.
The immediate past president of Eleme Youth Council, Brain Gokpa, who monitored the recovery of the wreckage of the vehicles, also described the accident as unfortunate. He said the carnage on the road underscored the demand of the people of Eleme for the immediate reconstruction of the road.
He said the accident did not only take lives, it also damaged the aquatic life of the river.