Bridegroom dies in strange auto crash on way to marriage introduction

While people were busy celebrating love last Valentine’s Day, a family somewhere in Ebonyi State was suddenly overtaken by grief over what would have been the beginning of a beautiful love story between their daughter and the man she was bringing home for introduction.

The young woman, a native of Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, was bringing home her suitor when only a few poles to her family house, the vehicle they were traveling in had an accident and she watched helplessly as the one she loved took the last breath.

The accident happened at Enufaith in Umunaga Eweze, just before the Ohaozara West Development Council in Uburu. They were traveling in a commercial bus.

Strangely, the young man, an indigene of Abia State, was the only occupant of the bus that died in the accident. The intending couple had traveled alongside a few family members of the man from Aba for the event that was to hold just a few meters from the scene of the accident.

According to an eyewitness account, the passengers claimed that the driver was trying to avoid hitting an old woman who was crossing the road when he lost control and hit the wall of a building.

The eyewitness, Frank Ori said he ran out of his house when he heard the deafening bang of the vehicle hitting the wall.

“I heard when people were shouting and so I ran out of my house to the place. The passengers were talking about a woman. When we asked whom they were referring to, they explained that while they were coming an old woman was crossing the road.

“So, the driver tried to avoid hitting her. But seeing that he was about to hit a building, he turned the steering suddenly and in the process the vehicle somersaulted and hit another wall. But when we came out, we could not see any woman fitting the description they gave. We asked people and they said that they did not see any woman like that.

“Strangely again, out of all the passengers, it was only the young man that was killed. The wife-to-be, who was also traveling with him,  suffered only a small glass cut. They were all coming in the same vehicle. It was only that man that died from the accident. The girl he was going to marry had only a small cut, along with one other woman. Every other person in the bus was safe. It was just the three of them that were rushed to the hospital,” Ori said.

It was gathered that the father of the girl was late, while her mother resided in the village. The girl was resident in Aba where she met the late suitor. Ori explained that when rescuers made to move the man out of the damaged vehicle, they discovered that he was not talking.

“It happened that when the vehicle hit the wall, part of the block that fell from the wall fell on the man’s head. It was lying on his head. Then we rushed him alongside the wife-to-be and one other woman that sustained an injury to the Presbyterian Joint Hospital in Uburu. But before getting to the hospital, he gave up the ghost,” Ori said.

By PATIENCE EGWUWA of Sunday Sun