An accident involving a trailer truck and a Hummer bus conveying passengers has claimed 21 lives on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway on Thursday.
While the bus was heading to Batsari town in Katsina state, the truck was on its way to Kano. Three persons sustained injuries.
According to an official of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) who took part in the rescue operation, the injured have been taken to Umaru Musa Memorial Hospital in Sabon-Wuse town, while the corpse of the victims were deposited at the hospital’s morgue.
He said the accident occured at a diversion due to road construction forcing vehicles coming from opposite directions to drive on a single lane.
The driver of the truck reportedly fled after the accident for fear of being lynched leaving his truck behind at the scene causing traffic on the highway.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Tafa Division, S.P Idris Ibrahim, confirmed the incident.
In the last few days, Nigeria has witnessed more cases of road accidents that have claimed many lives.
It’s recalled that on September 9 2024, 59 people were killed, and 50 cows died in an accident that occurred in Niger state.
The accident involved a fuel tanker which collided with a lorry conveying passengers and cattle.
The two vehicles collided at about 00:30 on the day causing an explosion which engulfed both vehicles and completely burnt out. The explosion also caught up with other vehicles that were closer to the scene.
The accident was described by rescuing agents as the worst the country has witnessed in recent years.
In June, nine people also died while 13 suffered injuries in two accidents on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
One of the accidents which occured at 9:33 pm claimed seven lives and 11 injured while the second one happened at about 9:30 the following day killing two people and injuring another two.
A report by The National Bureau of Statistics indicated that in the first quarter of 2024, Nigeria experienced 2,662 road crashes which was a 2.02% lower from the previous quarter of 2023 which has a record of 2,717 and a 3.00% decrease from 2,733 in Q1 2023.
Out of the 2,662 in the first quarter of 2024, 1,715 were fatal.
