Tears flowed freely in Awgu town, Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Sourh East Nigeria as a truck crushed 21 school pupils to death.
Many other children including roadside artisans were also critically injured in the accident.
The schoolchildren were crushed to death when an articulated vehicle, a low-bed, ran into a fully-loaded 608 Mercedes Benz bus conveying school children and their teachers. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), yesterday, confirmed that no fewer than 21 persons lost their lives in the auto crash on the old Enugu–Okigwe road.
The accident occurred at Nkwo Junction, when a low-bed lost control and rammed into a school bus conveying pupils of Presentation Nursery and Primary School, Awgu, owned by the Catholic Diocese of Awgu.
The accident, which occurred at about 4:30p.m. on Wednesday, has thrown a lot of families into mourning as a particular family lost three children in the accident. Survivors, who sustained injuries, were taken to hospital The driver of the truck reportedly disappeared from the scene apparently for fear of a mob attack.
The FRSC Sector Commander in Enugu State, Mr. Ogbonnaya Kalu, confirmed the accident and the number of deaths to journal ists in Enugu. Kalu said that the FRSC Unit in Awgu had been to the scene of the accident and hospitals where the victims were receiving medical attention.
Although, he said that the number of injured could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, he added that before the Road Safety officials could arrive at the scene some parents had taken their children to various hospitals for treatment.
According to him, the fullyloaded school bus had 64 occupants, which included 61 students/pupils, two teachers and the driver.
He blamed the accident on mechanical fault of the lowbed, which had a break failure while descending a sloppy and curved road.
“The low-bed trailer, which eyewitnesses alleged suffered a break system failure, rammed into the school bus first and into a welder’s shop, where the welder and his apprentice were working,” he said
