On Friday, a fatal accident claimed the life of one individual near the PDP Road Junction along the Isaac Boro Expressway in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
The deceased was identified as the motor boy of a truck involved in a collision with a tipper and a tricycle, commonly known as a Keke. Several individuals, including three female passengers, the Keke rider, and the truck driver, sustained injuries in the accident.
Shortly after the incident, personnel from the Federal Road Safety Commission arrived at the scene and removed the victim’s body. The accident resulted in a traffic jam, restricting vehicles to one lane around the area.
An eyewitness, requesting anonymity in print, recounted that the deceased became trapped and was crushed beneath the truck after leaping from the swerving vehicle. The driver attempted to regain control after colliding with the Keke and tipper, causing the latter to overturn on the road and spill diesel from its tank.
The eyewitness further stated that the truck driver skillfully maneuvered the vehicle away from a collision with a nearby petrol station on the left side of the PDP Road. However, the truck eventually came to a halt against the perimeter fence of a popular relaxation bar on the right side, tragically resulting in the death of the motor boy.
He said, “The driver of the tipper was trying to make a U-turn at the junction when the truck, coming on the same lane from the Opolo-Biogbolo side of the expressway, hit the tipper and the Keke.
“After hitting the tipper and the Keke, he curved his hand, maybe he was trying to control the steering, and entered inside this (PDP) road, and finally stopped here (perimeter fence). Before he could stop here, the conductor tried to jump down, and where he fell, there was no space for him to escape anywhere. So he died under the tyres.”
The tricycle rider, Melvin Goodnews, who survived the accident with the three female passengers he was carrying, said he had slowed down and was waiting for the tipper to turn when the truck hit his Keke and it tumbled.
“All I can remember is that my Keke tumbled and I was just seeing tyres passing. If the truck didn’t hit the tipper, it would have killed all of us because I was carrying three women inside my Keke and one of them has a big cut on her leg,” he said.
Although the tipper driver was not seen at the scene of the accident, his motor boy, Eze Cashmir, said they had navigated the u-turn and were waiting for the other lane to clear when the truck suddenly hit their vehicle.
He said, “As we were trying to turn, suddenly our vehicle started staggering and I thought that my driver had climbed the median, then there was pressure. There was a hit and we fell. I managed to come out from the window (of the fallen tipper). I managed to turn off the engine and looked for my phone and that of my driver.
“As I moved to the other side, people told me that it was the long truck that hit us and somebody was trapped under it.”
