Trailer crushes 3-month-old baby, mother, another to death

The hope of taking a three-month-old baby whose name was simply given as Chioma to the altar for dedication later this month has been dashed as a trailer truck crushed her, the mother and another woman to death in Aba, Abia State last Friday.

The woman who resides at Osisioma, a suburb of Aba and who was said to have held birthday party for the elder sister of the crushed baby the previous day was heading to the nearby SDA hospital to keep an appointment with a doctor over her child’s ill health. On getting to the Umuoba Road, close to Total filling station, a trailer driver lost control of the truck and crushed the baby, her mother and another woman to death.

An eyewitness, Sunday Okonkwo said the woman had alighted from a vehicle that took her and the two kids from the main motor park to the waterside bridge and had barely crossed over to the other side of the road to pick another vehicle to continue her journey, when suddenly the driver of the trailer lost control and rammed into bystanders, killing the woman and the three month old baby she was carrying on her back.
Also crushed to death was a woman said to be an employee of Aba South Local Government Area who was said to have been recently transferred to the council. However, the three-year-old sister of the crushed baby, whose mother was cuddling, was miraculously saved. 


The trailer, which was fully loaded with cement was heading towards the city center when on getting to the 7Up junction, the driver lost control of the truck which rammed into and destroyed several vehicles and tricycles as the driver made fruitless efforts to bring the vehicle under control. In all, over five vehicles were destroyed.

The accident, which happened at about 9.30a.m on that faithful day, held traffic on the road up to 12noon.
When Daily Sun visited the scene of the incident, although the bodies of the deceased had been taken to the mortuary, a team of the army, police and civil defence men were seen controlling traffic.
Some of the people who spoke to the reporter blamed the incessant accidents in the area, on bad network of roads in the city.  They said the road rehabilitated by the administration of former government Orji Uzor Kalu, remained the only outlet to the city as the other roads are in deplorable condition.


Daily Sun