The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed seven persons dead and 29 injured in an incident that occurred during the annual Calabar Carnival on Tuesday, December 27, 2022.
Eye witness account: Eye witnesses said that more than ten persons including spectators at the ongoing Calabar Carnival were killed when a vehicle lost control and swerved into unsuspecting crowd at the Carnival.
The incident happened at about 4pm on Mary Slessor Road, one of the carnival routes.
Today was listed by the carnival organisers for power bike and exotic cars parades. But the event started late, and was eventually cut shut.
The vehicle that lost control was not part of the carnival cars, according to the eye witnesses.
“We saw the truck coming from opposite direction of the carnival procession and rammed into waiting crowd of spectators, hawkers and residents of Bogobiri.
“As many as ten persons are believed to have been killed.”
What the Police said: The Commissioner of Police in Cross River State, Balarabe Sule, also confirmed the incident to reporters in a phone interview.
He said that the incident occurred in front of the Jumat Mosque in Bogobiri in the capital city of Cross River during the Bikers Carnival activity of the carnival.
Sule listed the number of injured to include 21 male adults, three women, two male children and three female children.
He said that the injured were rushed to Naval hospital and the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) for medical attention.
He said that the remains of the dead had been deposited in the two hospitals in Calabar.
According to him, the incident occurred when a Toyota Camry car lost control and rammed into crowd of onlookers during the carnival.
How Carnival is going: The incident abruptly brought the day five activity to an end, where the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade was already seated with other dignitaries.
There are speculations that other carnival activities for the year have been suspended.
Meanwhile, Gov Ayade has condoled with families of those who lost their lives and promised to bring to book the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident.
