Lorry kills 9, injured 6 in Adamawa

From Umar Dankano, Yola

A lorry yesterday failed brake and killed nine people in Adamawa state, eye witnesses said.

They added that six other persons were seriously injured.

Was accident, according to the eye witnesses occurred along Viniklang,a suburb of Girei local government area of Adamawa state.

Report from the scene also indicated that the lorry was conveying laterite sand when it lost control due to break failure , ramming into vehicles near mechanic workshop in viniklang.

Eyewitnesses interviewed at the scene of the accident claimed that  the lorry skidded off the road at the Viniklang junction, near the Jimeta bridge on the outskirts of Yola, the capital city.

Also killed was a traffic police officer on duty at the ever  busy junction.

“Isa Usman, a traffic control police officer was the first casualty, the tipper hit and smashed his remains before it rammed into the mechanics,” an eyewitness, Thomas  Addison told our correspondent.

“I personally counted six crushed bodies on the spot. We evacuated the remains of their bodies into a police van,” he said.

On sensing danger, driver of the lorry was said to have escaped and abandoned his vehicle, sparking  outrage, as irate youths set the articulated vehicle ablaze extending the fire from the vehicle to near by shops burning them and destroying an electricity transformer in the process.

A team of policemen presence at the scene brought the tensed atmosphere under control as  Road Safety Marshals, firefighters and Red Cross officials evacuated the  dead bodies and the injured.

Spokesman of the  Adamawa State Police Command,  SP Suleiman Nguroje confirmed the accident, saying, “one police officer from the Motor Transport Department (MTD),  Isa Usman and five others have now been confirmed dead.”