Auto Crash: Driver, Loader Killed as Vehicle Rams into ACL Loading Bay in Awka

By Praise Chinecherem

Two employees of Anambra Comfort Line, a popular inter-state transport company lost their lives while others sustain various degrees of injuries in an early Frida morning auto crash in Awka, Anambra State.

The crash which occurred around 6am at the Anambra Comfort Line loading bay along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway involved a stationary Toyota Sienna and a speeding Lexus RX 350.

Eye witnesses said the deceased, a driver identified as Chinedu and James, a loader were preparing their vehicle, a Toyota Sienna for a trip to Lagos when the Lexus RX 350 lost control and crashed into the stationary vehicle.

“The driver of the Lexus with a female passenger suspected to be his girlfriend, was speeding before the collision. While the two transport workers died on the spot, the driver and his companion, however, came out unhurt,” the witness said.

Although the Lexus driver attributed the accident to brake failure, some witnesses suspected distraction, fatigue, or intoxication.

The argument that followed rose tension at the scene as colleagues and relatives of the deceased tried to confront the driver, accusing him of reckless driving.

However, park authorities and law enforcement agencies intervened to prevent violence, eventually taking the driver and his passenger into custody.

Meanwhile, a driver who witnessed the incident told AnambraDaily that the man who drove the Lexus was returning from all night clubbing when the incident occurred.

“He was high and exhausted from the previous night club outing and appeared to be rushing home when he drove his vehicle into Anambra Comfort Line.

“It’s a reckless action that has taken lives of our colleagues but he was trying to be smart and that angered those at the scene but we had to step in to prevent mob from lynching him, which could have caused us more trouble”, the driver who spoke under anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to press, said.