Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Four die in auto crash, N400m property lost
By Okey Maduforo
Correspondent, Awka
Four persons and property worth over N500 million
were lost to a ghastly motor accident at the weekend. The accident involved a
tanker carrying petrol at Nkpor-New Tarian Park along Onitsha Awka Expressway.
According to an eyewitness account, the fuel tanker
ran into a 40-foot container stationed at the centre of the Onitsha dual
carriage highway and burst into flames.
Both the tanker driver and his conductor were roasted
in the inferno, which also took the life of two other persons who were knocked
down by the driver as he made futile efforts to get out of the vehicle before
it exploded.
Also affected were some vehicles parked in the
vicinity and buildings; one completed and the other uncompleted, as well as
shanty stores along the roadside.
Confirming the report, the state Police Public
Relations Officer, Mr Kolapo Shofoluwe, said that the incident happened around
10 p.m. Saturday evening.
He added that members of the local government
authorities and the Onitsha fire service were contacted on the incident and
asked to come and assist in evacuating the remains of the victims and vehicles
affected.
Successive regimes in Anambra State had given
directives in the past that abandoned containers and earth-moving machines
stationed at the centre of the dual carriage road be removed but it was not
adhered to.
Governor Chris Ngige had also given directives to the
Anambra State Environmental Sanitation Agency on the evacuation of abandoned
containers in the area.
