A liquor haulage van, yesterday crushed a nine-year-old girl and injured 24 others at Afor –Nkpo- New Tarzan axis, near Onitsha.
The crushed girl was said to be returning from an errand when she was hit. Her body has been deposited at Eyi Enu Hospital Mortuary, Ogidi.
Eye witness account revealed that the lorry driver was shouting from afar to alert people that his breaks were faulty, only for the vehicle to slam into a spot where people were gathered, killing the girl on the spot.
The eyewitness said: “The driver could not control the situation and he immediately jumped out alongside the conductor. The lorry hit one L300 inside the waterway; smashed the little girl and rammed into a hair-dressing saloon.”
The lorry also trapped an aged man under its tyre, while the owner of the hair dressing saloon managed to run away, leaving her five-year-old child behind.
The lorry, with number plate XA424-AAH (Anambra) had full load of lager beer beverage at the time of the accident.
The eye witness said that the people around managed to pull the old man out of the tyre, with his legs shattered, while the five- year-old child was rescued unhurt.
