Deadly accidents multiply on Kumba-Mamfe road

The number of accidents claiming lives on the Kumba-Mamfe Road under construction has risen in the last couple of weeks. Hardly does a week pass by without news of a road accident in which at least one person has died.

Recently, a man of Nigerian extraction, whose only name The Post got as Eugene, fell off a Hilux vehicle and died on the spot in Bolo Moboka Village in Konye Subdivision.

The incident, which occurred around 7.30pm, is said to have been caused by an on-coming speeding truck used by the Chinese firm constructing the road. Reports say that the driver of the Hilux vehicle from which the Eugene fell panicked when the driver of the truck flashed its headlights.

This is said to have caused the Hilux heading for Kumba with tens of traders to lose control. Reports hold that the vehicle transporting the traders overturned when its driver attempted unsuccessfully to reduce speed.

According to eyewitness accounts, the drivers of both vehicles disappeared from the scene of the incident into hiding. But elements of the Konye Gendarme Brigade are said to have napped the Chinese national who was driving the truck at the time of the accident.

The driver of the Hilux vehicle is still at large, while the Chinese national is currently detained at the Gendarme Post in Konye.

The following day,on 17 July, another accident left a woman still of Nigerian extraction dead along the same stretch of road.

Correspondent reports indicate that the woman in question was being driven by his son in a Carina vehicle. They were said to be heading for Kumba when the vehicle skidded off the tarmac and hit a pear tree.

The legs of the woman, who sat in the back seat of the vehicle,were fractured and she died, while the son who was driving came out unhurt.

News of the second accident is said to have brought out the population of Konye Sub division to the road. The deceased is said to be known in the hinterlands of Konye Sub division for supplying rubber shoes to farmers during the rainy season.

A fortnight ago, another accident occurred at Weme, a village along the road towards Nguti Subdivision, involving a truck, yet belonging to the Chinese company constructing the road, but no death was recorded.

Last month, at least four persons died in what remains the deadliest accident, so far, on the Kumba -Mamfe Road. The incident, which happened around Bakebe, found in Lot II of the current project, is said to have been the consequence of over-loading and brake failure.

Besides, at least five other persons are known to have died in the course of 2016 on the same road, through accidents involving commercial motorcycles.