8 University Students confirm Dead while returning home ahead of the upcoming general elections

8 students of Madonna University, Elele, Rivers State have reportedly died in an auto crash on their way to Taraba State from Port Harcourt, myschoolnews reporting.

The accident occurred at TTC/Special Science School junction along the trans-Saharan road in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State.

The occupants of the bus were said to be traveling from Port Harcourt to Taraba State when they crashed on the evening of Saturday, February, 18.

The students were returning home ahead of the upcoming general elections. One of the victims has been identified as Grace Usman Ezra.

A hospital staff took to Twitter to reveal that many of the victims are in the burns unit or the Accident and Emergency unit at the Alex Ekwueme Teaching Hospital and they are “all in pains.”

Those students who managed to jump out of the burning bus reportedly suffered multiple fractures, the hospital worker said.

“They briefed me that the bus was coming from Port-Harcourt, conveying some students from Madonna University with some of the parents who were returning to Taraba State for a break due to the upcoming elections.”

Mbam added that the seven persons that survived were in “bad conditions” while the eight that lost their lives were “burnt beyond recognition.”

“The story further has it that eight students/a parent are the chelated bodies/ashes that were burnt beyond recognition. And about seven persons in bad conditions who are currently at Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, escaped from the bus when it caught fire after having head-on collision with a Sienna car.”

Ezra M Usman, the father of one of the deceased students, expressed his sorrow in a Facebook post, attaching a picture of his daughter.

Usman wrote, “Grace Usman Ezra, I never knew sending you to Madonna University would lead to your untimely death. 18 of you left Madonna to Jalingo yesterday only to hear the news that your bus had [an] accident and caught fire, eight out of 18 came out from the bus. It is well with the 10 of you and the rest that are alive, I pray for your speedy recovery and may God comfort us all that lost our children.”

Efforts to reach the Vice Chancellor of the university, Dr Uchenna Anyanwu, were unsuccessful as calls to his telephone were not answered and he had yet to reply to an enquiry sent to his telephone through text message as of the time of filing this report.