Auto Crash Involving Cross-Link Bus And A Truck In Calabar Kills 19 People

At least 19 people, including the drivers of a bus and truck, died in an auto crash along the deplorable Calabar-Itu highway on Wednesday night when an Onitsha-bound bus collided with two trucks.

An eyewitness, Peace Monday, said the accident had occurred at about 9 pm when a bus, belonging to Cross-Link, conveying 18 passengers from Calabar, was descending the Obot Isong slope, close to the bridge.

According to the eyewitness, the truck was moving at high speed and overtook the bus on the right side of the bridge, and since the bridge is narrow, it forced the bus towards the oncoming vehicles.

"The driver of the oncoming truck with number plate Akwa Ibom NGD 01 XA, also on top speed, could not stop or control his truck to allow the bus to pass through the space on the bridge and so the truck ran over the bus killing everybody except one lucky passenger who sustained severe injuries. The truck that overtook the bus tore through the railings and plunged into the river," Monday explained.

It was added that the driver and the conductor had been removed from under the bridge dead, however, two other conductors remained alive, but sustained serious injuries because they were flunged very far from the truck to the bush.