Nigerian Premier League club Ikorodu United’s team bus was involved in a crash with a trailer en-route to their weekend game with Lobi Stars on Friday afternoon.
The accident occurred along AMA Brewery Road in the south-eastern town of Enugu, and left a team official and seven players in need of treatment for minor injuries in hospital. However, 11 players and six officials escaped unharmed, after jumping out of the bus windows.
An Ikorodu official revealed that the trailer was speeding in the direction of the team bus down that road, but the driver swerved out of the way before it collided with another 18-seater passenger bus, leaving it flattened by the damage and tragically killing all those on board.
The fixture that was meant to be played on Sunday has unsurprisingly been called off indefinitely, with Ikorodu sat bottom of the Nigerian Premier League, but the official is thankful that no one on the team bus was seriously hurt in the collision.
We give glory to God for His Mercy in our lives. The players sustained minor injuries.@LMCNPFL @NaijaMadeSS @Mpraiz pic.twitter.com/PSZW0fxEMI
— Ikorodu United FC (@FCIkoroduunited) June 17, 2016
“It was a scary moment but we all managed to get out of the bus through the windows,” Ikorodu media officer Babatunde Ayoola said. “We are lucky to be alive because the crash impact killed all the passengers inside an 18-seater bus on the spot.
“The team is leaving Enugu and returning to Lagos. It’s an awful experience but we thank God for our lives.”
Nigerian clubs have been forced to cut travel expenses due to the economic problems in the country, forcing them to travel along the hazardous roads that are among the most dangerous in the world.
There have been a number of tragic incidents involving clubs on those roads, with 18 female players dying after a fatal collision in Plateau State back in December 2008, while 15 players from FC Jimeta of Adamawa were killed in an accident near Akwanga on their way to a league match just a month later.
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