Four soldiers are currently in critical conditions at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH as a truck carrying them crashed in Calabar.
The truck which reportedly left the 34 Nigerian Army Brigade headquarters in Calabar at about 4:00 pm was said to be moving to the Brigadier Ally Army Cantonment in Ogoja with a unit of troops headed by a Major for operations duty in the northern part of Cross River State.
The remaining twenty one soldiers including five females sustained various degrees of injuries.
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According to an eye witness, the truck driver was driving under the influence of alcohol causing him to overspeed.
“At the Beebosco bus stop, he came upon a line of cars which had built up at a recently erected speed breaker and he suddenly applied breaks causing the truck to swerve to the right and crashed into a sienna parked for sale”.
Emmanuel Ekpeta, a car dealer stated that the Sienna was a saving grace otherwise the bus would have ended inside the drain which takes water into the Beebosco water channel and that would have been a major tragedy.
Speaking further, he said the ground was slippery following a down pour in the city which made the truck driver not to see far.
“The soldiers who crashed into the gutter are the ones most affected because they suffered broken skulls and foreheads. They were taken out of the drain unconscious drenched in blood” an eye witness said.
John Eluu, the owner of the sienna bus said he kept the car for sale and appealed that the military authorities should assist by replacing the bus.
The owner further stated that “I brought it to this car stand some days ago for sale and this is my source of livelihood. The army should please help me by replacing my bus because as you can see, the vehicle is completely destroyed”.
Dr. Oyi the head of the emergency unit at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital where the injured soldiers were rushed to said twenty five soldiers were taken there but two were later taken to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH, while twenty three are undergoing various treatments there.
