At least four prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have died in a fatal road accident that occurred in Ebonyi State on Wednesday, 9News Nigeria has learnt.
The prospective corps members were among a group of 12 prospective corps members in a 14-seater bus involved in the accident.
The group had boarded the bus in Enugu and were heading to the NYSC orientation camp in Afikpo, Afikpo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, for their three-week orientation course. They are believed to be part of the 2024 Batch C Stream II set of corps members who resumed camp on the same day.
The Enugu North Mass Transit bus reportedly rammed into a parked truck beside the road, resulting in the crash.
Recall that a female corps member, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was said to have died from her injuries. Her colleagues and other passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries.
Three other persons have reportedly died after getting to the hospital.
They were rescued by residents and security agencies from the mangled bus and rushed to the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS), where they are receiving treatment.
A source said, “Corps members had an accident while going to the NYSC camp. The accident happened at Amenu community in Okposi. A female corps member died.
“The bus is a 14-seater bus with 12 of them being corps members. Others sustained injuries.”
A source at the hospital confirmed that the accident victims were brought in.
“Yes, I saw them in the evening. They were brought by security officials. They are responding to treatment,” the source said.
The Ebonyi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Igwe Henry, confirmed the accident.
He, however, said he had no details of casualties, as the victims were rescued before his officers arrived at the scene.
He said: “At the time our men from Amasiri Unit Command got the information and arrived at the scene, the victims had already been rescued. They didn’t directly carry out the rescue and therefore could not ascertain specifics of what happened.
“However, the crash occurred on 22nd January at about 14:00 hours. The route was Amasiri-Okigwe, at a place called Amenu village in Okposi.
“Two vehicles were involved: one was a Toyota commercial bus, grey in colour, and the other was a Mercedes-Benz tipper (truck), the regular tipper you see around.
“From preliminary findings, the crash may have been caused by excessive speed on the part of the commercial vehicle, which was the bus.
“But the details as to the number injured and so on have not been ascertained, because, as I said, the victims were actually rescued by bystanders and then taken to David Umahi Hospital in Uburu.
“And the items recovered at the scene, I understand, are in the custody of one Chief Amos of Amenu village in the same Okposi.
“At King David’s Hospital, where my men visited, the ones they saw were actually in stable condition,” he said.
The State Coordinator of NYSC, Foluke Oladeinde, also confirmed the accident.
Visibly in a state of shock, Mrs Oladeinde could only confirm the accident but declined to give further details.
“I am not in the right frame of mind to talk now. I am in the hospital. Yes, the accident occurred, but I cannot talk right now,” she said.
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