three-month-old baby whose name was simply given as Chioma to the altar for
dedication later this month has been dashed as a trailer truck crushed her, the
mother and another woman to death in Aba, Abia State last Friday.
The
woman who resides at Osisioma, a suburb of Aba and who was said to have held
birthday party for the elder sister of the crushed baby the previous day was
heading to the nearby SDA hospital to keep an appointment with a doctor over her
child’s ill health. On getting to the Umuoba Road, close to Total filling
station, a trailer driver lost control of the truck and crushed the baby, her
mother and another woman to death.
An eyewitness, Sunday Okonkwo said the
woman had alighted from a vehicle that took her and the two kids from the main
motor park to the waterside bridge and had barely crossed over to the other side
of the road to pick another vehicle to continue her journey, when suddenly the
driver of the trailer lost control and rammed into bystanders, killing the woman
and the three month old baby she was carrying on her back.
Also crushed to
death was a woman said to be an employee of Aba South Local Government Area who
was said to have been recently transferred to the council. However, the
three-year-old sister of the crushed baby, whose mother was cuddling, was
miraculously saved.
The trailer, which was
fully loaded with cement was heading towards the city center when on getting to
the 7Up junction, the driver lost control of the truck which rammed into and
destroyed several vehicles and tricycles as the driver made fruitless efforts to
bring the vehicle under control. In all, over five vehicles were
destroyed.
The accident, which happened at about 9.30a.m on that faithful
day, held traffic on the road up to 12noon.
When Daily Sun visited the scene
of the incident, although the bodies of the deceased had been taken to the
mortuary, a team of the army, police and civil defence men were seen controlling
traffic.
Some of the people who spoke to the reporter blamed the incessant
accidents in the area, on bad network of roads in the city. They said the road
rehabilitated by the administration of former government Orji Uzor Kalu,
remained the only outlet to the city as the other roads are in deplorable
condition.