Three school children and five others were killed in an auto crash that happened in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Thursday.
According to an eyewitness, a sewage truck while trying to avoid a stationary truck, rammed into a tricycle and a motorcycle conveying the pupils and the other victims.
The source said all the occupants of the tricycle died on the spot, while two passengers on the motorcycle died on the way to the hospital.
The source said, “Efforts by the personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission to rescue the victims were unsuccessful as the victims died on the spot.
“An irate mob immediately set the trucks ablaze.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Haruna Mohammed, confirmed the story.
He said the corpses of the victims had been deposited in a morgue.
Mohammed stated, “The police patrol teams attached to the Otolo Division and the MTD personnel visited the scene and rushed the victims to the Nnewi Diocesan Hospital, where three victims were confirmed dead by the doctor, while three others are responding to treatment.
“The corpses were deposited in the hospital’s morgue for post-mortem examination.
“However, before the arrival of the police, the mammoth crowd at the scene of the accident, aggrieved by the accident, set the vehicles ablaze.”
He added that the area had been cordoned off by the police to prevent a further breakdown of law and order as well as to prevent looters from taking advantage of the situation.
The PPRO said the accident and the events after it occurred were under investigation.