Angry Ebonyi youths on Sunday blocked the Enyigba/Ikwo road to protest the inability of government to pull out a vehicle which fell into a mining pit of the road.
The vehicle, which was said to be driven by a prominent politician in the state who was in company of two policemen, had taken off from Abakaliki, the state capital on Saturday to Ikwo local government area.
On getting to the boundary between Ikwo and Abakaliki local government areas of the state , the vehicle lost control and veered from its lane to the opposite from lane before plunging into a large deep mining pit by that side of the lane.
Efforts of local divers to rescue the victims on that day was not successful.
Thousands of friends, associates, relatives and well-wishers of the politician have been at the pit since Saturday when the incident occurred.
The state government on Sunday drafted one of its cranes from the Ministry of Infrastructural Development for Concession to the scene at about 4;pm on Sunday but it was not able to pull out the vehicle.
Governor David Umahi and his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe(who is from Ikwo) were at the scene on that Sunday evening to supervise the rescue operations.
Angel Network News gathered that as at 6:pm on Sunday, the vehicle was still in the pit with the crane battling to pull it out.
Umahi and his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe did not make any comment on the tragedy as they left the scene in the evening.
The crane at some point lifted the vehicle from the pit but it slipped and fell back into the pit.
Chairman of Ikwo local government, Steve Orogwu described the incident as tragic and unfortunate
He said: “We have not been able to bring out the vehicle and the remains of the occupants of the vehicle that fell into the mining pit at about 1:pm on Saturday.
“We have invited local divers from different locations but we have not succeeded. Meanwhile, we have gone for crane that can bring out the vehicle and unfortunately we have not been able to get any crane.
“The only crane that is available is the one with the ministry of Infrastructure in the state which they gave us an hour time to be ready. So, we are all waiting here for that crane to come so that the process of evacuation will commence.
“We are very worried, you can see the population of sympathizers here. Even the youths have become restive to the extent of blocking the road. So, it is a very precarious situation, very pathetic but we are looking forward to the arrival of the crane”
“On his part, Abakaliki local government Chairman, Emmanuel Nwangele described the incident as mysterious
“Government has tried so much because since yesterday, my local government and that of Ikwo have put heads together, we have called divers from all corners; from Izzi, Ikwo and other places. Even Hausa people, they have tried since yesterday. Then this morning, they continued and nothing has happened.
“This is too mysterious because if you look at how it happened and where it happened, you hardly belief until the vehicle is seen. But divers have established that it is inside the water. We are now waiting for crane and everybody is restless and we are doing everything humanly possible to make sure they are rescued”, he said.
