4 die in auto crash - On the way to mortuary

Biola Azeez, Umuahia - 07.01.2008

FOUR people have been confirmed dead and many others in critical condition after the driver of a Volkswagen 18-seater bus rammed into a concrete fence while going to a mortuary in a convoy to convey a corpse for burial.

The incident happened about 5.00 p.m. at the weekend on Nguzu-Eda-Ohafia Road, opposite Ohafia sub-treasury office in Amaepu-Ohafia in Abia State. Two of the passengers, according to an eyewitness, died on the spot, while two others died at Mbem hospital.

Incidentally, it was the same hospital that the convoy of vehicles was going to take the corpse for burial that the corpses of the dead youth, three males and a female, were deposited and those that sustained injuries were being treated.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the 18-seater bus was overloaded with exuberant youths, who were hanging on the bus with the driver also said to be reckless, as eyewitness said the convoy was engaged in a display of bravado until the accident happened.

It was cries of sorrow and anguish as passers-by lamented the death of the four young people. Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, one of the people who witnessed the accident condemned the manner and alleged extravagant way Ndigbo celebrate their dead, calling for sober and quiet burial rites for departed loved ones.

He frowned on the way Igbo youths were made to accompany corpses to and from the mortuary, wielding cutlasses menacingly under the influence of alcohol, while the drivers of vehicles in the hearse convoy allegedly drove recklessly.

The eyewitness called on governments of the five Igbo states to ban such burials as a measure to stop untimely deaths during burial ceremonies in the area.