No fewer than seven people were killed and many others injured on Friday in Awka.

Anambra State capital when a tanker loaded
with palm kernel oil lost control and rammed
into several commercial buses.
The buses were being loaded under the
pedestrian bridge at the UNIZIK Junction on
the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway.
The driver of the tanker could not be found as
some eyewitnesses said he jumped off the
moving tanker before the accident occurred.
But the Anambra State Sector Commander of
the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Hyginus
Omeje, told Saturday PUNCH that his men
counted five adult male at the accident spot,
while 17 other people were critically injured.
Some witnesses at the scene said one woman,
known around to be a hawker of petty goods,
was also killed in the accident. The victims
were taken to the Regina Caeli Hospital, Awka.
Omeje said one of the victims, whose condition
was very critical, was rushed to Nnamdi
Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi
for attention. He said five commercial buses, in
addition to the tanker that was heading to
Onitsha from Enugu, were involved in the
accident. The buses under the bridge usually
pick passengers travelling to Onitsha.
He said inasmuch as the accident was
unfortunate and sad, it had given credence to
the campaign of the FRSC against buses
loading under the bridge and people hawking
goods around the busy pedestrian bridge.
“We are renewing our appeal to people not to
pick passengers under the bridge or engage in
hawking around the place. People need to be
careful about how they expose themselves to
danger,” he said.