A multiple auto accident at Umuokpu, in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State has left four people with various degrees of injury with four cars belonging to mourners also damaged.

The crash involved a tipper with registration number GDD 110 ZN, a Mercedes Benz with registration number NSH 620 PH, a Mitsubishi L300 bus with CH 259 KTU and a Golf with registration number 0AJ 122 ZAR.

The mourners were said to have parked their cars along the road close to where a burial ceremony was taking place when the accident happened around 2:15 p.m. on Sunday.

According to an eyewitness who gave his name as Uzoma, he said the tipper transporting sand from Onitsha to Awka lost control following a brake failure.

He said the tipper driver while trying to avoid hitting a car in front of him, swerved off the road and rammed into vehicles parked by the road side.

Uzoma said that the tipper in the process of swerving off the road knocked down a woman who is related to the bereaved family before it crashed into the vehicles and finally climbed on the bus.

He said: “It took the efforts of the burial guests and other passersby who were attracted by the sound of the crash to pull out the driver and the conductor trapped inside the truck.

“The accident could have recorded more number of casualties if not that the affected vehicles were empty,” Uzoma added.

It was, however, learnt that the owner of the tipper had been held by kidnappers, and is yet to be released as of the time of the accident.

A source who spoke to News Express said that the traumatised wife, a mother of two kids, almost slept in the hospital where the accident victims were taken in an effort to ensure they were treated.

Confirming the incident, the State Sector Commander Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Andrew Kumapayi, said four persons, including three male and one female, were involved in the crash.

He said one of the male and the female had serious injuries.

Attributing the crash to the tipper’s alleged brake failure, Kumapayi said the injured persons were taken to the General Hospital, Enugu-Ukwu for medical attention.

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