By Ola ‘Kiya, reporting
A petty trader and her three kids, on Thursday, narrowly escaped being crushed to death by a commercial tricycle rider popularly called Keke in Warri, Delta State.
The incident occurred at about 2:09p.m at the busy but notorious Ginuwa Junction along Warri-Sapele road in the heart of Warri, Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
An eye witness narrated that two tricycles, apparently impatient, wanted to outwit each other, but lost control in the process.
One of the tricycles rammed into the petty trader’s kiosk where she sells recycled engine oil, fried peanuts and other petty articles with her three children: two girls and a boy, who had just returned from school.
The second tricycle, according to our reporter who witnessed the incident, lost its windscreen to the crash.
The kiosks and stall where she plies her trade in addition to a vulcaniser, are dangerously stationed at the set-back in front of the house with No. 115, at Ginuwa Junction.
Officials of the Department of Environment of the Warri South LGA had, some months ago, evacuated the traders with their tools and wares only to return some weeks after.
On sighting the tricycle heading towards them on Thursday, the trader, simply identified as Mama Chinedu, was able to swiftly abandon her wares and escaped for dear life with her kids.
The bang that followed the accident attracted residents and passersby, who, in turn, appealed to government to evacuate petty traders from roadsides to avert future tragedies in the area.
It will be recalled that a similar incident was averted at the same spot last week when a Mercedes Benz car lost control and headed for the stalls of the same trader and that of a foodstuff seller indentified as Mama Biliki, but for a signboard post that stopped it half way from causing havoc.
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