A casual staff of construction giant Julius Berger was early Friday morning killed when a truck conveying him and dozens of other workers the company overturned.
The accident caused a huge gridlock on the already overstretched Abuja–Keffi expressway.
Pointblanknews.com gathered from officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) that the truck driver hit the concrete median on the expressway before losing balance. The 40-foot containerized truck flipped on its side.
Eyewitnesses said the unfortunate worker who, owing to scanty safety features in the container body, was flung out of the truck’s wondow.
When Pointblanknews.com visited the scene of the accident, scores blood-caked of personal items of the workers, including shoes, clothes and bags dotted the entire area.
At the foot of the truck was a large pool of blood said to be the dead victim’s.
FRSC officials were also sighted attempting to winch away the flipped truck with registration number ABJ 129 XA and company number B7338.
Friday’s accident has, once again, highlighted the concerns of rights groups on the terrible working conditions of construction workers, particularly of foreign companies.
A safety expert told Pointblanknews.com that the death of the worker might have been averted had FRSC and other statutory bodies concerned with maintaining road safety standards been alive to their responsibilities.
“We have constantly decried the slave-like conditions workers of companies like Julius Berger work in. “Even though these companies post mouth-watering profits at the end of each year, they spare little thought on the welfare of their workers, including finding more decent transportation,” lamented the expert, stressing, “we are calling for the outright ban on the use of containerized trucks to herd workers.