CALABAR—IT WAS a horrifying spectacle on Saturday evening at Adim, Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State as a taxi which plunged into a river along Calabar-Ikom highway last Tuesday afternoon, was pulled out with three bloated corpses.
The taxi, according to eyewitnesses, was travelling from Obubra in the central district of the state to Calabar with four commuters along with the driver but at Adim, the taxi came close to a head-on collision with a speeding truck from Calabar which left its lane.
It was learned that to avoid a collision with the truck, the driver swerved the car off the road and plunged into the river.
The 21-year-old survivor
A source who gave his name as Ekong, told Vanguard that one of the commuters, a 21-year-old girl who was travelling with the boyfriend but miraculously came out of the water was too dazed and temporarily deaf because of the impact of the crash and could not relate to the divers which side of the river the taxi plunged.
“The girl was too dazed and had become deaf and so could not explain which side of the river the taxi plunged into as it was difficult to make sense of what she was saying apart from saying my boyfriend is inside. So divers searched for the taxi on the wrong side of the river for days,” Ekong said.
He said the divers searched for the taxi several miles on the right side of the river where they thought the taxi might have plunged into until Saturday when they decided to search the left side of the river.
“Apparently, when the taxi came head-on with the truck, the driver decided to swerve the car to the left side of the road since the truck had occupied the other lane.
‘’It was on Saturday evening, after a fruitless search on the other side, that they decided to go to the other side of the river and that was where they located the taxi under the bridge and pulled it out,” he said.
Taxi and corpses pulled out
According to a source, three bodies were pulled out with the taxi, while the fourth person could not be located The Public Relations Officer for Cross River Road Safety Command said he was on promotion course in Nassarwa State could not, therefore, offer any comment. In the command’s office along Marian Road, most corps officials said they were not aware of the accident.
