Posted by By JOE EFFIONG, Uyo on
The legendary saying that when two elephants clash, the tree and grasses suffer figuratively played out recently when two vehicles had what could pass for a kiss of death.
The legendary saying that when two elephants clash, the tree and grasses suffer figuratively played out recently when two vehicles had what could pass for a kiss of death. The accident involved two Mercedes Benz vehicles, which collided at Afaha Ofiong, the headquarters of Nsit Ibom Local Government Area along the Nung Udoe - Afaha Nsit highway.
In the accident, the smaller Mercedes Benz, with a Lagos registration number, BG 521 MUS, not only became a scrap but also its driver died on the spot. Other occupants of the vehicle survived miraculously. One woman was among those who survived. Her husband eventually died.
Eye witnesses told Daily Sunthat the luxury bus, which was heading for Eket, was at top speed when it collided with the Benz 200, which was heading towards Uyo.
'We heard the luxury bus was going at top speed but the next was a loud bang, then a clatter of metals. We rushed to see what was happening only to see that a man and the wife trapped in this car (pointing at the Benz 200).
'We tried to remove them, but were only able to bring out the wife who sustained injuries on one of her elbows and had a deep cut on her face, but she was okay compared to the husband who had been smashed between the dashboard and the seat.
'The police later joined us to cut the metal to remove the man, by then, he was dead. So, the police took both of them to the hospital".
He could not say much about the driver or the passenger of the luxury bus with an Akwa Ibom registration number, XA 218 KPK, belonging to Akro Transport Company. The bus appeared to have sustained only a minor damage on the driver's side of the front view. Even at the head office of the transport company, a lady ticket officer said: 'We don't have any bus like that."
Officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), who were at the scene of the accident, however declined to speak, explaining: 'We only arrived here just before you (The Sun correspondent) arrived. Our only duty is to clear this damaged vehicle from the road so that it would not cause another accident".
The sector commander, Akwa Ibom Command, Mr. L. S. Kinya, however, told Daily Sun that he had been unofficially briefed by his unit commander, but that the formal report was still being awaited. He said that FRSC's concern was, first, to make the road safe for other users by removing the damaged vehicle from the road.
'If It were too heavy to be removed manually, we could have liaised with some construction companies to go there with equipment to clear the road," Kinya said.