About six persons have been confirmed dead as a tanker loaded with fuel ran into two tricycles at Ntak Inyang village, some few kilometres to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The truck reportedly went up in flames immediately and burnt down the two Keke tricycles and their passengers.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Monday along the side of a road that is under rehabilitation by the state government as the congestion on the free lane compacted the traffic which led to the accident.
“The truck rammed into the approaching tricycle from the opposite direction resulting in the accident,” an eye-witness said.
Confirming the accident, State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Ogah Ochi, said a preliminary investigation conducted by the officers of the corps has indicated that two trucks were involved in the accident.
He added that the second truck that caused the accident fled the scene.
“Actually six people died. One female and five males. A detailed investigation will come out by tomorrow. Our investigators have gone there and the preliminary report they have given confirms that two trucks were actually involved in the crash, but one escaped.
“The truck that actually caused the accident ran away. The one that got burnt was trying to veer off from the truck that was overtaking which caused it to ram into two tricycles,” Ochi said.
