Dangote truck Throws Enugu Community Into Mourning

It was a Mourning Mood on Wednes­day at Oji River LGA, Enugu State, when a cement-laden truck killed Six persons and injured many others.

The accident happened by 4pm, when the trailer, belonging to Dan­gote Cement Company, suffered a brake failure as it descended the steep slopes of the Oji River bridge.

With an increased velocity, the vehicle ran out of control of the driver, somersaulted across the water drainage separating the road and the shops beside the Oji Town market and rammed into the shops – killing five persons on the spot.

An eyewitness said the trail­er, with registration number KM 162 XB, was moving from Enugu to Anambra State.

The driver of the trailer, whom eyewitnesses described as a very young man, died instantly, while two commercial motor cycle op­erators, popularly referred to as “Okada” riders, were also killed. Three other persons, believed to be commuters, whose identities were not yet known, were equal­ly crushed by the Dangote trailer.

Among those injured were technicians, hawkers and food vendors who ply their trade at the ever busy Oji Town linking Enugu to Awka. They were said to have received varying degrees of injuries.

When FirstLadyNaija.Com vis­ited the scene of the accident, the Dangote trailer was still lying there, with littered bags of cement along the road. Some of the residents ex­pressed fears that there might be some other victims of the accident who were trapped and covered by the bags of cement, and the exact number of casualties could not be determined until the bags of ce­ment were removed.

FirstLadyNaija.Com checks re­vealed that the gruesome accident of Wednesday, February 24, night accident at Oji Town, sparked off a series of protests by youths resi­dent at Oji Town against Dangote motors and other big vehicles ply­ing the Oji Town to link Anambra State through Enugu to the Onit­sha old road.

The youths, in their hundreds, blocked the road with wood and some bags of cement that littered the road. The angry youths urged both the Enugu State government and the Federal Government to ban trailers and heavy duty ve­hicles from plying the old Enu­gu to Onitsha road, because of the grievous calamity the big ve­hicles had inflicted on many fam­ilies. They said vehicles should revert to the Enugu to Onitsha express way.

A member of the National Union of Road Transport work­ers (NURTW), Oji River chap­ter, Mr Ilomuanya, lamented that the gory accident on Wednesday at Oji town would be the second time by Dangote motors. He said the entire Oji Town market was turned bloody on November 22, 2014, as a Dangote trailer load­ed fully with bags of cement, in similar circumstances, had a brake failure as it descended the steep slope Oji River slope, and rammed into Oji town, destroying shops and killing many people within their shops. More than 20 people were killed instantly in that par­ticular accident.

FirstLadyNaija.Com findings reveal that the dilapidated nature of the Enugu to Onitsha express road has enforced much vehicular movement on the Enugu to Onit­sha old road since the past three years. Despite the fact, that it is a single lane road, it is always under the pressure of all forms of vehic­ular movement including trailers and other big vehicles.