Death of 28 puts Peace Mass Transport under pressure Category: News Published on Sunday, 26 June 2011 01:55 Hits: 2869 The sight of mangled bodies trapped in the squeezed and battered metals of what, a short while ago, used to be moving vehicles, was enough to weaken even the most stone-hearted individual at the accident scene where about 28 persons perished in what people said was an avoidable crash. Some of the casualties included four discharged members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were returning to their homes after the national service, Sunday Trust, was informed. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Enugu State said it was very worried about the dangerous dimension road accidents appear to be taking and the frequency of occurrence on roads in Enugu State. A case in mind was the Monday, June 20, 2011 fatal auto crash which involved two commuter buses - one belonging to a popular road transport company, Peace Mass Transit (PMT) and the other owned by the Enugu State Transport Company (ENTRACO). The crash claimed not less than 28 lives. It seems the rate of road accidents in this part of the country is becoming a weekly, if not a daily affair. Two victims of the accident, who were seriously injured and went into coma were rescued by officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC who quickly took them to a hospital at Ninth Mile Corner. The accident which occurred at Egede village on Ninth Mile -Nsukka Highway, involved a commuter bus belonging to Peace Mass Transit with registration number BENUE - XB 504 TKP and another bus owned by Enugu State Transport Company, ENTRACO with registration number ENUGU - XL 812 UWN each conveying 15 passengers. The Peace Mass Transit bus marked 2258, was conveying passengers from Enugu to Nsukka and was reportedly overtaking another vehicle when it collided with an oncoming ENTRACO bus, Sunday Trust gathered. Several bags belonging to the passengers littered the road and the FRSC rescue team and sympathizers discovered four NYSC discharge certificates in the luggage. Mr Lukas Ikpi FRSC Sector Commander in Delta State, who got to the scene of the accident while travelling on the road, said he immediately alerted his men at the Enugu Sector Command who rushed to the scene for rescue operation. Senator Ayogu Eze representing Enugu North Senatorial District who was returning to Enugu with some journalists after a function at Igboetiti Local Government Area, met the FRSC officials removing the mangled corpses trapped in the smashed vehicles. Ikpi who supervised the rescue operation, was seen directing the NYSC officials to cut open the vehicles to bring out the corpses but by press time yesterday, seven corpses were yet to be evacuated from the buses. Some passengers who witnessed the rescue operation, wept uncontrollably as they put calls through to their relations who traveled on the road to ascertain if they were in the ill-fated buses. According to Ikpi, the corpses recovered earlier were sent to Our Saviour Hospital mortuary at Ninth Mile, adding that all the corpses would be deposited there. He said two persons who were rescued alive but were seriously wounded had been taken to the hospital for treatment. Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Sunday Onyebuchi and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Ambassador Dr Godknows Igali, the State Chairman of the PDP, Engr. Vita Abba, who also attended the flag off of the N2.57 billion Adada River Dam at Igboetiti council also got to the scene of the disaster and expressed shock at the number of casualties. Federal Road Safety Commission said it would not keep quiet about the issue, and therefore it has decided to publish an annual list or statistics of minor, serious or fatal road accidents with the companies and vehicles involved. The idea is to ensure that prospective travelers by public transport get sufficient enlightenment on the particular companies that are more concerned about passengers’ safety, the FRSC told Sunday Trust in an exclusive interview. “We have even said that at the end of the year, we will publish the statistics of accidents that happened within the year so that people will know the rate of a company’s involvement in minor, serious or fatal accidents. May be that will make the passengers to patronise the companies with low accident rate so it will serve as a deterrent to other companies,” said the FRSC Public Enlightenment Officer for Enugu State, C. L. Nwanne. According to Nwanne, accidents don’t just occur if road users, particularly motorists, should pay adequate attention to caution, and avoid over-speeding as well as dangerous overtaking. “If every motorist will maintain minimum speed and avoid dangerous overtaking such as at bends and where they cannot see clearly ahead of them, the rate of road accidents will reduce. It’s dangerous driving, over-speeding that cause accidents most time,” she emphasised. While attributing the cause of the auto crash to dangerous overtaking, she said drivers of the two vehicles died along side some of the passengers. Although some of the surviving victims were conveyed to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu attempts by journalists, four days after the tragedy, to have access to them, the medical doctors treating them or the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital were stoutly and rudely resisted by the Public Relations Officer of the hospital, a lady who was indifferent to the desire of the reporters to keep the public informed about the development. “Stop calling me for Christ’s sake. I am not in the office. I am in my house. Stop calling me for Christ’s sake,” she screamed and put off her phone when our correspondent, thinking that she must have changed her attitude, later called her in the night to get the official figure of the survivors who are receiving treatment in the hospital. However, Sunday Trust gathered that about nine of the survivors are being treated there. Up till the time of writing this report, no one has been able to ascertain the reason for her rather embarrassing behaviour. When our correspondent visited the Emene office of Peace Mass Transit to get reaction from the company, the Public Relations Officer declined comment, saying that the General Manager, who he said, was the appropriate person to speak with journalists, went out in connection with the tragedy. “The GM went out because of the technicalities involved in the matter,” he told Sunday Trust. But a top official of the company who didn’t want his name in print said the management placed high priority on the safety of passengers and therefore organises compulsory quarterly training for all the drivers to enable them keep abreast of modern traffic code. According to the insider, the company hired an official of the FRSC who conducts the periodic training for the drivers. “We do the much we can to ensure that they drive safely on the roads. And we attach much importance to discipline and drivers having cordial relationship with their passengers,” he said. He added, “but you see, the company has grown so big and at times certain people may behave in a bad manner when the boss is not around.” He said other companies vehicles do get involved in fatal accidents and wondered why people seem to pay particular attention to the latest accident involving Peace Mass Transit bus. He did not comment on whether the company will pay compensation to the victims’ families and the few survivors. But a visit to Emene office of ENTRACO by our correspondent on Thursday did not bear much fruit because the Managing Director, Hon. Tony Okey Mba, who ought to have spoken on the issue was out of town. The chief security officer at ENTRACO said, “all the top officials of the company who should have spoken with you on the matter are not in now. Several calls made by the correspondent to Mba’s GSM line were never picked. Even a text message on the issue he was expected to address in connection with the tragedy was not replied as at the time of writing this report. However, another call was put to Mba the following day, and he simply said, “I am not in Enugu now.”
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:44:00 +0000
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