It was indeed a dark Wednesday for the entire staff of Providence Nursery and Primary School in Enugu State as the school’s bus driver, seven pupils and a teacher were said to have died instantly in a road accident around Nkwo Junction, in the Awgu Local Government Area of the state, while conveying the children home from school.
Nine other pupils, who were said to have sustained varying degrees of injury, were rushed to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, for treatment.
According to the Federal Road Safety Corps, a total of 21 people lost their lives in the crash with many injured.
Nnaemeka Nwadu, the Cathedral Administrator of St. Michael’s Cathedral Parish Awgu, the parish overseeing the school, said the driver was taking the pupils to their homes when the incident happened.
Nwadu said, “The school bus was conveying the pupils back to their different homes but on getting to the Mmaku/Nkwo Junction, a truck which was descending Mmaku Road had a brake failure.
“It crushed and pulled the school bus with the pupils into the valley. In all, nine persons, including seven pupils, a teacher, Emmanuela Chukwugbo, and the driver, Basil Chukwu, died. Also nine persons are recovering.”
The Sector Commander, FRSC, Enugu State, Mr Ogbonna Kalu, said the accident occurred on Wednesday around 4.30pm.
He blamed the accident on mechanical fault.
According to Kalu, the truck lowbed had a problem while descending the sloppy road and rammed into the school bus.
“As I speak to you, 21 persons have been confirmed dead. The school bus had 51 schoolchildren of a Catholic primary school, a driver and two teachers.
“Also of note is that not all the deceased were schoolchildren. Those working by the roadside were part of the casualties,” he added.
