By Chuks Eke
Normal vehicular movements appeared to have returned to the old River Niger Bridge following a heavy gridlock on the bridge after a fire incident that occured when two vehicles collided on top of tthe bridge on Tuesday evening.
The fire incident, according to sources in the area started at about 9pm on Tuesday and the cause was attributed to reckless driving by the tanker driver.
Two vehicles, a J5 Bus and a truck both heading towards opposite directions had has a head-on collision at the middle of the ridge top, resulting in the explosion of the fire which lasted till dawn and caused a traffic jam on top of the old Nigerl bridge linking Asaba in Delta state and Onitsha in Anambra state.
Although, no life was lost, but it caused a heavy gridlock on the bridge as the resultant flames covered the area even as firefighters and other rescue operators battled to bring the situation under control.
As of the time our correspondent visited the scene of the crash on Wednesday, it was observed that the two vehicles which collided, were still in flames.
The development caused a heavy gridlock as vehicles coming from Asaba axis and Onitsha axis were stuck for several hours as they struggled to squeeze through the little space on the bridge even as they avoided the flame.
The situation remained so until rescue operators came to evacuate the vehicles and remove every obstruction it has caused.
One of the personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who craved anonymity said, “Yes, normal vehicular activities have returned on the bridge since the two vehicles were removed from the crash scene. The backlog of traffic is what we are dealing with at the moment. If the drivers maintain decorum, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“The burnt vehicles caused serious obstruction as we battled to control traffic all day. It was a head-on collision which occurred last night. One of the drivers ran away and his whereabouts still unknown. While the other driver was injured and taking to the hospital.
“We thank God that no life was lost because as soon as the fire was ignited, the driver of the smaller vehicle was quickly assisted brought out from the vehicle before he was rushed to the hospital. Traffic is moving freely now and the bridge was not damaged, no cause for panic.
