Kogi school children escape death as heavy containers fall on cars

…We will prosecute the truck driver, Kogi govt says

It was all celebration and thanks to God in Lokoja recently, as eight pupils who were coming back from the graduation ceremony in one of the private schools in part of the city escaped death.

A fully-loaded container fell on two vehicles conveying the pupils.

Eye witness account had it that the truck had a brake failure and was rolling backwards but luck smiled on the children when another car Corolla with registration number Kogi LMA 190 AA parked in front of Adama Shop blocked the reversing truck from climbing the car occupied by the children, and the container fell on both cars.

It was gathered that all the eight children were successfully rescued out of the car without injury.

The school children were returning from their school graduation ceremony and were travelling in a Mitsubishi Car with registration number Abuja RSH 242 FH and made a stopover for some shopping by their minders, while the children were in the car.

Following the accident, the Kogi State government has said that it would prosecute the driver of the truck for failing to latch the container onto the truck.

The Secretary to the Kogi State government, Folashde Arike Ayoade dropped the hint when she visited the scene of the accident alongside other government officials, including Kingsley Fanwo, the Information commissioner, and Jerry Omadara, the State Security adviser.

“The driver will be made to account for his actions for failing to do the right thing,” Ayoade said.

The SGS, who was full of praise to God and the people who helped to rescue the children, said that the driver of the truck would be prosecuted for violating the law on latching the container onto the truck to prevent it from falling.

“I want to thank God most sincerely for sparing the lives of the children, these are children coming from their graduation ceremony and looking forward to starting their long holiday.

“I also want to, on behalf of the state government, thank everyone who was involved in the rescue operation; it shows that Kogites are kind people, and the state government really appreciate everyone for this,” she said.

The state Security Adviser, Jerry Omadara echoed SGS’s position that the driver would not go unpunished for not doing the right thing against the law of the state.

“We have warned repeatedly that every container should be latched onto the back of the truck carrying them, just like the SGS has said, he will be prosecuted,” he said.

The Sector Commander of the state Federal Road Safety Corp, Sunday Samuel Oyedeji attributed the accident to brake failure. He warned drivers to always do proper checking of their vehicles before hitting the road to prevent accidents.