By Samuel Oyadongha,

Yenagoa – The was uneasy calm today, in Yenagoa the Bayelsa State capital  when news of a fatal road accident on the Ahaoda-Okogbe stretch of the East-West road axis in Rivers State filtered into town.

Eighteen passengers reportedly lost their lives in the road carnage which caused panic among residents of Yenagoa especially with the claim that the ill-fated vehicle was Yenagoa bound.

The tragic incident was said to have occurred in the early hours of the day when a truck allegedly on top speed rammed into a truck coming from the opposite direction on the East-West road some distance away from Okogbe town about an hour’s drive from Yenagoa.

According to eyewitnesses, the accident might have been due poor visibly caused by the early morning heavy downpour.

Though the destination of the ill-fated commuter bus could not be immediately ascertained, some said it was conveying passengers to the weekly Mbiama market, a border area between Bayelsa and Rivers while others said it was heading to Bayelsa when it was involved in the fatal head on collision with the truck close to Okogbe.

The accident, eyewitnesses told Vanguard, caused serious gridlock on the usually busy highway as men of the Federal Road Safety Corps from the Ahaoda unit were coordinating the chaotic traffic situation on the road littered with corpses.

Some Bayelsans who went to the motor parks in the early hours of the day to board vehicles to Port Harcourt had to abort their trip on hearing about the heartbreaking accident which turned out to be subject of discussion in most parts of the capital city.

A lawyer travelling to Yenagoa from Port Harcourt, who was caught up in the gridlock had to notify the judge of the court where he was to appear for his client through his mobile phone about the sad development.

Also, a commercial vehicle operator on the route, fondly called Baba Akin, blamed the spate of accidents on the road on its deplorable state saying if it were a dual carriage way some of the accidents would have been avoided.

As at press time the identity of the victims could not be ascertained and it could not be confirmed if the vehicle was Yenagoa bound or actually conveying some traders to the Mbiama market as being speculated in some quarters thereby causing panic among residents whose relations are constantly plying the route.