It was a gloomy day in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Monday as a luxury bus with registration number HAL 269 YG and inscription ‘God’s Own Motors’ rammed into many vehicles at the ever busy Zik Avenue area of the city, injuring no fewer than ten persons and killing one.

According to eye witnesses, the incident occurred when the driver of the bus lost control in a suspected case of brake failure, causing it to ram into cars and tricycles on the way until it got to the opposite end of Diamond Bank along the road.

Though eyewitnesses claimed that about ten people were injured while one died on the spot, the state Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Sunday Ajayi who was on ground with some of his men said that only nine persons were injured without any death.

He said that the accident was caused by the distress state of the luxury bus adding that the seven males and two females who were injured in the accident were taken to the hospital by the officers of the FRSC.

A sympathiser who spoke to News Express at the scene of the accident said that the bus ran over the deceased woman, while some others either had broken legs, hands and other minor injuries.

The accident caused a heavy gridlock along the road while most civil servants and traders who were on their way to their places of work and business were forced to trek to their destinations.

Another eyewitness who identified himself as Ikechukwu said he was short of words to describe what happened, saying that if not for the mercy of God; more casualties would have been recorded.

He said the police used their vehicle to wage the raging bus while the policemen who were inside the Hilux Jeep came out unhurt. “In fact, God did wonder today,” he said. The most spectacular aspect of the accident, eyewitnesses said, was the survival of a 24-year-old driver of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Shuttle Bus, Odoh Gift, whose vehicle was smashed and squeezed by the luxury bus.

Odoh who was still visibly shaken said, “It’s shocking. I cannot believe that I am still alive seeing this vehicle in this condition. What it means is that God is always with me.”

When the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Nkeiru Nwode was contacted, she said she was yet to receive the information concerning the incident. She however, said she would make the figures of the casualties available as soon as she got it, adding that she was attending a conference.

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