Five persons including an anti-riot police officer and a woman, died in an auto crash at NICON junction, Abuja on Friday, when a red Nissan Sunny was crushed by a blue truck carrying sand chippings.
Seven others including passers-by also sustained varying degrees of injuries during the incident which caused a traffic gridlock along the busy Berger Road.
The injured persons were taken to various hospitals while the dead were taken to the National Hospital morgue.
Checks indicate that the car was badly crushed and it took some time for the men of the Federal Road Safety Corps and others to retrieve the trapped bodies from the mangled car.
The Federal Capital Territory FRSC Sector Commander, Mrs. Susan Ajenge, attributed the cause of the crash to wrongful overtaking by the driver of the car.
She explained that the car overtook the truck on the right side and the truck crushed the car, killing the five occupants on the spot.
Ajenge said an AK47 rifle and beret belonging to the policeman were recovered and handed over to the Mabushi police station.
She said, “The accident was caused by wrongful overtaking by the Nissan Sunny car which overtook the truck on the right. But I don’t know how the truck managed to crush the car, killing the occupants and injuring seven others, including passers-by. We will check on the injured persons in hospital to know how they are faring.”
The sector commander advised motorists against over-speeding and wrongful overtaking, noting that the accident could have been prevented if the car driver had obeyed traffic rules and regulations.
