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Nigerian Football Club, Heartland Team Bus Involved In Crash, Leaves Players, Staff Severely Injured

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August 23, 2024

It was learnt that the team bus was heading to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital for the Ifeanyi Ekwueme TICO/SELECT Pre-Season Tournament when the accident occurred.

Some players and staff of a football club owned by the Imo State Government, Heartland FC are currently hospitalised after the team bus was involved in a road accident on Friday.

It was learnt that the team bus was heading to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital for the Ifeanyi Ekwueme TICO/SELECT Pre-Season Tournament when the accident occurred.

This was confirmed in a press statement issued by the club management to newsmen on Friday.

The statement reads: “The accident happened at Umunna close to Okigwe still within Imo State.

"The vehicle in its attempt to dodge an oncoming vehicle collided with another carelessly parked vehicle from another accident.

"Though no death was recorded some players and officials sustained injuries and have been taken to the hospital."

 

In June, SaharaReporters also reported a similar incident when the team bus of a Nigerian Football Club, Doma United based in Gombe State, was involved in an accident along the Makurdi-Lafia Expressway in Benue.

It was gathered that the bus lost control and somersaulted several times along the expressway but no life was lost to the accident.

Some of the players sustained varying degrees of injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital, according to the club management.

 

The team lost 3-1 to Heartland FC at the Dan Anyiam stadium on Saturday during the NPFL24 matchday 35.

Doma United is not the first football club in Nigeria that had bad tales to tell while using highways in the country in the course of their trade.

For instance, in 2020, SaharaReporters also reported how Ifeanyi George, a player of another football club from the country, Enugu Rangers Football Club, was killed in a car accident.