Concerns are growing over rate of decomposing corpses lying by the road side in Obio-Akpor Council area of Rivers State.

Residents and commuters in the area have lamented the trend and called on the authority to wake up to its responsibility and halt the environmental menace. Commuters in the area also urged relevant agencies of government to remove the corpses to ease the traffic situation.

Some residents who spoke with The Guardian at the scene where a lifeless body of an unidentified man was found, yesterday, along Iwofe University of Education road said if efforts are not put in place, the ugly trend may turn out to be a major health disaster to the people.

There was also a tragic scene at the wee hours of Valentine’s Day as the remains of a dead man was ran over by a garbage truck at Ikwerre road, in Obio-Akpor council.

The corpse, which caused heavy traffic at St. Michael junction on Iwofe Road, is yet to be evacuated at the time of filing this report.

Although it is not yet clear what led to the death of the man, there are pointers that he was either knocked down by a hit-and-run driver or was killed and dumped along the road.

According to a student in the area, Eunice Amadi, lamented the psychological effect of sighting a dead body, adding that it is traumatising.

She said: “I must say this is an eyesore. Seeing the dead body unsettled me and I am still shivering, people should be careful how they move around, probably the person was returning from Valentine’s party and got knocked down, “

A tricycle operator, Prosper Obi, linked some of the incidents to cult clashes, stressing that he saw machete cuts on one of the corpses.

It was a moody Valentine’s morning for residents of Rumuigbo axis of Ikwerre Road in Obio/Akpor council as they woke up to a tragic scene after a garbage truck with brake failure, crushed a man and injured four others in the area.

Eyewitnesses said the incident, occurred around 1: a.m. on Monday, after residents had retired to bed.

A resident said: “This truck lost balance, fell off the road and crushed some persons. One of them (victims) was here this morning. He had injuries on his head and leg. They were looking for one person. That was when we now looked under the truck and saw somebody under (referring to the deceased).”

On her part, a female resident, Lilian, said they were attracted to the scene by the sound of the crash. “We rushed out and we saw four people lying down already. They were taken to the clinic. We didn’t know if the person was under the truck. It was this morning we saw the dead body,” she said.

When contacted, the sector head of operations, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Rivers State command, Chukwuma Nbaegbu confirmed the incident.

Nbaegbu, however, said corps officials went for rescue after receiving a distress call, but when they got to the scene, the victims have been evacuated.

“We are going to continue making contact maybe with the nearest police station to find out whether they were involved in the rescue.

“Right now, we don’t have comprehensive information as per the nature and number of casualties that were involved,” he stated. (The Guardian: Excludes headline)

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