By EMMA UNA
Calabar — Axes and machetes were deployed, Wednesday evening, along the Ogoja-Calabar highway to extricate the mangled bodies of nine commuters, six males and two females, following a head on collision between an Audi 80 car and a Toyota Hiace bus.

The crash which occurred at about 5 p.m at Esinjok village some 20 kilometres from Ogoja, an eye witness said, was caused by the Toyota bus which was heading towards Ogoja while attempting to overtake a trailer.

’’The trailer was on top speed  so the bus could not over take it and the Audi which was also on high speed could not give way for the bus to pass, so the two vehicles collided,” John Ebile, an Esinjok villager who witnessed the accident said.

Two of the three occupants of the Audi car and six passengers in the Toyota Hiace bus were said to have died on the spot while “others sustained severe injuries. Some of them may not be able to walk again,” Ebile further said.

According to sources, those who sustained injuries were taken to the GeneralHospital, Ogoja just as the corpses were deposited in the hospital’s mortuary.

One of the injured commuters, Agnes Oleka, said the bus which belongs to the Imo Transport Corporation was on its way from Enugu to Ogoja.

Mr Kagho Odafe, Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Ogoja said the accident was a product of over-speeding and recklessness by the drivers. He said this took place a week after another one, close to the same spot claimed five lives.

He called on drivers plying the road to be careful and obey traffic signs as “government is doing its best by rehabilitating the road but that is not to say drivers should be reckless and over speed because the road is better now. ”