Oh Dear! Petrol tanker driver kill six persons while trying to runaway from Police (PHOTO)

Six persons meet their untimely death when a petrol tanker driver trying to run away from police patrol checks rammed into innocent persons.

The driver of the truck, who was said to have been driving with one headlamp, in a hurry to escape from police arrest, sped off and crashed into the pavement, thereby ramming into where tricycles gathered to pick passengers to Uyo, the state capital.

Eyewitness accounts said that, it was at that point that a tricycle was trapped and all the passengers inside died in the ensuing inferno.

The rider of the tricycle was said to have died later in the hospital.

Narrating the story, a resident of Obong Itam Junction in Itu Local Council, one of the entry routes to the state capital from Cross River State and Ibiono Ibom Local Council, Cyril Ekpenyong, said the crash occurred around 8:30p.m.on Monday.

According to him, when the police flagged the truck down and the driver refused to stop, the police did not chase the vehicle, but out of fear that the patrol team was pursuing him, he sped off.

He added that the tricycle rider and another man in the truck were taken to hospital, where two of them were later confirmed dead.

“The accident happened around 8:30p.m. We saw the truck as the police were trying to flag it down because it was driving with one headlamp, which was not bright. The driver did not mind the police as he veered to the right of the policemen to escape.

“The police did not chase after him. He sped away thinking that the police were after him.

Within seconds from where the police stood, we heard a bang,” he said.

The Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr.God’sgift Uwen, confirmed the incident.

He said the accident happened along Kilometre 8, Obong Itam, along Uyo-Calabar Highway on Monday around 8:30p.m.

According to him, the truck rammed into the pavement, fell on to a tricycle and killed five persons. He said an injured victim was rushed to a hospital, but had not confirmed if he was dead.