A crippled alms beggar in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, was on Friday crushed to death by an articulated vehicle while his sister escaped by whiskers.

It was gathered that the driver of the 40-feet tanker which had earlier loaded its liquid content, reportedly rammed into the duo following brake failure.

An eye witness who simply gave his name as Emmanuel said the driver of the tanker lost control while he was descending the Onitsha – Asaba expressway from Army barracks area and skidded off the road.

“It rammed into commuters waiting along the road to board vehicles to their various destinations,” he said.

According to Emmanuel, scores sustained various degrees of injuries but the crippled beggar who could not run like others was knocked down by the truck and he died on the spot.

It was learnt that his sister who was pushing his wheel chair escaped death by whiskers as she abandoned the deceased teenager and ran for her life.

Narrating her ordeal, the deceased sister lamented the difficulty in tracing the parents, saying it was the deceased that was more familiar with the terrain.

She said: “My brother is dead now and it will be difficult to locate my parents. He was the one directing me while I pushed him on the wheelchair.”

Another survivor, Nneoma, who said she was among those that ran away, expressed joy that she escaped the ugly hands of death.

She added: “God saved us from untimely death. I pitied the crippled boy who could not run as a result of his condition.

“It was the cleverness of the girl that saved her. If not that she ran away, it would have been two deaths from a family.”

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