A bus of Heartland Football Club, owned by the Imo State Government, has been involved in a ghastly auto crash.
The accident which occurred on Friday claimed the life of head coach and former Nigeria goalkeeper Christian Obi and left many players hospitalised after sustaining various degrees of injuries.
The coach was said to be in front of the Heartland FC bus when it collided with a tipper, with the front of the bus seriously dented.
Obi reportedly died on the way to the hospital.
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.
Obi was in charge last season when Heartland FC were relegated.
The coach, aged 57, was a Nigeria youth international goalkeeper who competed in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
The club confirming the incident in a statement on Friday said; ““The accident happened at Umunna close to Okigwe still within Imo State.
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“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.”
A similar incident happened in June 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, Ifeanyi George, a player of another football club from the country, Enugu Rangers Football Club, was killed in a car accident.