One prospective corps member d!es, others injured in road crash on way to Ebonyi NYSC camp

A female prospective member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has d!ed in a fatal road accident in Ebonyi State.

The accident occurred at Amenu community in Okposi on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. 

The deceased was among a group of 12 prospective corps members in a 14-seater bus involved in the accident.

The group had boarded the bus in Enugu and were heading to the NYSC orientation camp in Afikpo, Afikpo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, for their three-week orientation course. 

They are believed to be part of the 2024 Batch C Stream II set of corps members who resumed camp on the same day.

The Enugu North Mass Transit bus reportedly rammed into a parked truck beside the road, resulting in the crash. The female corps member, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was said to have died from her injuries. 

Her colleagues and other passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries. They were rescued by residents and rushed to the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS), where they are receiving treatment.

“Corps members had an accident while going to the NYSC camp. The accident happened at Amenu community in Okposi. A female corps member died,” a source said.

The Ebonyi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Igwe Henry, who confirmed the accident said he had no details of casualties, as the victims were rescued before his officers arrived at the scene.

“At the time our men from Amasiri Unit Command got the information and arrived at the scene, the victims had already been rescued. They didn’t directly carry out the rescue and therefore could not ascertain specifics of what happened,” he said.

“However, the crash occurred on 22nd January at about 14:00 hours. The route was Amasiri-Okigwe, at a place called Amenu village in Okposi. Two vehicles were involved: one was a Toyota commercial bus, grey in colour, and the other was a Mercedes-Benz tipper (truck), the regular tipper you see around.

“From preliminary findings, the crash may have been caused by excessive speed on the part of the commercial vehicle, which was the bus.

“But the details as to the number injured and so on have not been ascertained, because, as I said, the victims were actually rescued by bystanders and then taken to David Umahi Hospital in Uburu. 

“And the items recovered at the scene, I understand, are in the custody of one Chief Amos of Amenu village in the same Okposi.

“At King David’s Hospital, where my men visited, the ones they saw were actually in stable condition.”