Auto crash claims 3 technicians in Delta

AN auto crash has reportedly claimed lives of three technicians in Delta State. The tragedy, TribuneOnline gathered, occurred on Saturday evening on the  Agbarho Bridge, around Agbarhor/Okuokoko length of the East-West Expressway, Ughelli North Local Area of the State.

The victims of the accident were said to b the technical staff of an indigenous construction company. They were returning on a Land Cruiser Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), with registration number Abuja DK 653 ABC from an assignment in Bayelsa State when the unfortunate incident happened.

Six persons were said to be inside the SUV when it swerved off, broke a side rail of the bridge and plunged into the river. Three of the occupants were rescued alive by divers who swung into action almost immediately the accident occurred.

The other three were said not to be as lucky as neither the divers nor the official rescue teams of the Red Cross, Police and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), were able to immediately retrieve their bodies on Saturday.

One of the survivors of the accident, who did not want his name in prints, said all the occupants were males and were returning from Bayelsa State where they had gone to fix one of the company’s faulty trucks.

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A co-employee of the victims gave the identity of the deceased to include one Mr Jiwere Godsend Olotu, a cousin to the owner of the construction firm and a mechanic, Lucky (electrician) and Musa (mechanic).

Another survivor identified as Freeborn said the vehicle wasn’t speeding when the incident happened.

“We were returning from Bayelsa State when the Jeep suddenly stopped working on top of the bridge.

“The steering and the brake refused to work before six of us and the vehicle fell into the into the river.

“The driver was not on speed. We had barely dropped one of our colleagues who lives in Agbarho at the junction close to the bridge when the jeep plunged into the river.

“We were coming from work. We were all mechanics and electricians. We only stopped at Evwreni to eat and no one took a drink,” he explained.

The white SUV in which the victims were travelling, was on Sunday recovered on Sunday by a team of professional divers, with the help of a train loader to a Police Station in Agbarho.

The Delta State Police Commissioner, Muhammad Mustafa, confirmed the incident to journalists in Delta.

He affirmed that three persons survived the accident and had been discharged from the hospital.

The police boss, however, noted that efforts were ongoing to recover the bodies of the remaining drowned victims