2 die of exhaustion at Onitsha Bridge traffic gridlock

ONITSHA—Two persons yesterday died on top
of the Niger Bridge, Onitsha in Anambra State
following a heavy traffic jam on the bridge.
The victims, a middle-aged man and a little
child, allegedly died due to exhaustion arising
from the long hours spent in their vehicles while
trying to cross the Niger Bridge which passage
has for some time now remained a nightmare
to both transporters and their passengers.
Vanguard sources, however, said that the
deceased whose identities were not
immediately known was a minor who was
coming back with his mother in a commercial
bus from Lagos, while the second victim, was a
trader who travelled all the way from the North
to Onitsha to sell his goods.
It was learnt that while the small child died
instantly on her mother's lap at the Bridge, the
business man died minutes after crossing the
bridge to Onitsha from the North. It was alleged
that the child had cried for a long time due to
heat in the vehicle while waiting to cross the
bridge before the mother eventually discovered
that her child was no longer breathing.

The bewildered mother was said to have
become hysterical as she burst into tears
running helter-skelter when she discovered that
her child whom she thought fell asleep was
actually dead. The trader was also said to have
boarded the vehicle from the North and
travelled smoothly until the Asaba end of the
Bridge where they spent several hours under
the scorching heat in an attempt to cross the
Niger Bridge. An eye witness account said that
the victim and other passengers with him in the
vehicle had already crossed the bridge and was
offloading his goods from the vehicle when he
suddenly slumped and died.
The Federal Government had repeatedly
promised in the last 10 years to build a second
Niger Bridge to ease traffic congestion on the
bridge which is the gateway from the Lagos
and other South-west states to the South-east
and South-South.