A bus belonging to a Nigerian football club, Heartland FC of Owerri was involved in a tragic accident on Friday.
The crash claimed the life of the team’s head coach, Christian Obi, a former Nigerian goalkeeper while several players were injured and hospitalized.
The accident occurred as the team’s bus was en route to Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State, for the Ifeanyi Ekwueme TICO/SELECT Pre-Season Tournament.
The bus collided with a tipper truck, causing significant damage to the front of the vehicle where Coach Obi was seated. Sadly, Obi succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.
Christian Obi, 57, had a distinguished career as a goalkeeper, representing Nigeria in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
He was in charge of Heartland FC during the previous season, which ended in the club’s relegation.
In a statement confirming the incident, the club noted that the accident occurred near Umunna, close to Okigwe, within Imo State.
It narrated that the crash happened as the bus attempted to avoid an oncoming vehicle and collided with another vehicle that had been carelessly parked after an earlier accident.
The club further said while no other deaths occurred, several players and officials were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
The driver did his best to avoid the collision, but the impact caused a severe shock to our coach, Christian Obi, who was found unconscious with a slight injury to his right leg upon evacuation from the severely damaged part of the bus.
“Coach Obi and other injured players were immediately taken to a nearby hospital in Okwelle, Onuimo LGA, Imo State.
“Despite the efforts of the medical staff, Coach Obi succumbed to his injuries,” the statement partly reads.
This tragic event is reminiscent of a similar accident in June involving the bus of Doma United, a football club based in Gombe State where the bus lost control and somersaulted several times along the Makurdi-Lafia Expressway in Benue State, though fortunately, no lives were lost.
Unfortunately, such incidents are not uncommon for Nigerian football clubs traveling on the country’s highways. In 2020, Ifeanyi George, a player for Enugu Rangers Football Club, was also killed in a car accident.
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