A multiple road accident along Benin-Asaba express way over the weekend claimed the lives of 18 people with several others injured.
The accident which occurred in the early hours between Okhuae and Ugoneki axis, eyewitnesses? said, involved two trailers, a lorry and a ten-seater bus with registration number XG 223 NND leaving 13 persons dead while five others perished in the lorry.
According to the eyewitness, the two trailers had brake failure while descending the Okuae hills and crashed into the 18 seater-bus where only five persons were said to have been saved.
Leadership Sunday gathered that the two trailer drivers had complained of the brake problems to the owners, a petroleum dealer who did not bother about their complaints but rather threatened to sack them if they refused to drop the petroleum products in Onitsha.
Checks revealed that motorists were held to a standstill while the Federal Road Safety officials were on hand to evacuate scores of the victims, as well as ensure a free flow of traffic.
The officials who did not want their names in print however, said that only three persons died adding that it was as a result of brake failure from the trailers that were on their way to Onitsha. But sympathizers at the scene of the accident said the officials’ claim that three people died was not true, adding that they acted in cover-up to allay fears of the seriousness.