By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

A woman whose identity is yet to be verified has been crushed to death by a 40ft container which fell from a rolling trailer.

The incident happened on Thursday at the ever-busy Eze-Iweka area near Upper Iweka Bus Stop, along the Onitsha-Owerri Road.

An eyewitness account said that the incident occurred when the truck, which was parked by the roadside, while goods were being offloaded, suddenly rolled off without a driver inside it.

Information has it that while the truck was rolling, the 40ft container it was carrying fell and crushed the woman who was standing by the roadside, trapping her on the ground.

A source said more casualties were further averted as the traders who saw the truck rolling quickly fled the scene.

As of the time of filing this report, the dead victim was still trapped under the container as rescue efforts were ongoing.

Confirming the incident, the Acting Sector Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Margaret Onabe, said it happened at about 3pm.

She attributed the cause of the crash to brake failure, adding that the police team were making efforts to get a crane to lift the 40ft container.

She said: “An unidentified driver of a commercial Mack trailer at about 15:08hrs on Thursday, was involved in a road traffic crash. The probable cause of the fatal crash was break failure.

“According to eyewitnesses, the truck was packed, while goods were being offloaded and all of a sudden, it rolled off without a driver inside and hit one person.

“One female adult was involved. She was killed by the 40ft container the trailer was carrying.

“The FRSC rescue team from RS5.3A1 Upper-Iweka Outpost, Anambra state rushed to the accident scene along with the Awada police team making efforts to get a crane to lift the 40ft container where the road traffic crash victim was trapped.

“And efforts are still in place to get the driver of the truck amidst the Awada police division who are also investigating for necessary actions.”