Five persons were killed in an auto crash on the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Road on Thursday.
Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Enugu State, Mr Joseph Toby, said in Enugu that 15 persons – 10 males and five females – were seriously injured in the accident.
He said the two vehicles involved in the crash had a head-on collision while using a single lane.
“Twenty persons were in the two commercial vehicles; the five that died were three male and two female occupants,’’ he said.
He added that the injured were taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu and to a private hospital on the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway.
Toby said corpses of the deceased were deposited at the Colliery Hospital mortuary in Enugu.
He blamed the accident on lack of lane discipline, over-speeding and brake failure.
Eyewitnesses, however, blamed the accident on the poor state of the road which compelled many motorists to drive against traffic rather than use the failed lane of the dual-carriage way.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, visited survivors of the crash on Thursday.
She represented her principal, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on the visit and announced free medical treatment for survivors.
The accident was reportedly caused by wrongful overtaking when an 18-seater commercial bus rammed into an articulated vehicle laden with bags of cement and travelling from the opposite direction.
“Now that this administration has taken it upon itself to offset the medical bills, let nothing delay the treatment of the injured,’’ she said.
Responding, Prof. Hyacinth Onah, Chief Medical Director of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital to which some of the injured were taken, commended the governor for his prompt intervention.
