Nineteen people were, on Sunday, burnt to death in an auto crash along the Okene-Lokoja highway in Kogi state.
Jonas Agwu, its public education officer, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reported that the accident included a Dangote truck with registration number NSH680YJ and a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number KMC455ZE.
According to the FRSC, both cars collided head-on following a route violation by the truck, culminating in an inferno.
According to the service, three of the 22 male passengers involved in the crash were rescued.
The statement reads:
“The TYT bus loaded from Kano was on its lane on the highway when the Dangote Truck driver who drove from Port Harcourt wrongfully overtook a vehicle & collided head-on with the bus. The impact of the collision resulted in an inferno that burnt the victims to death.”
“Unfortunately, 19 people out of the 22 victims were killed and 1 injured. The remaining 2 victims who were rescued by FRSC operatives without injuries survived the crash because they complied with traffic regulations on the compulsory use of seatbelts.
“The corpses of the dead victims whose lives were claimed by the crash have been deposited at Okene General Hospital.”
The FRSC corps marshal, Dauda Biu, stated that the agency will continue to prosecute drivers “who by their actions cause road traffic crashes in Nigeria”.
Biu also urged the judiciary, the leadership of transport unions, and other important stakeholders in the road transport sector to collaborate with the corps to ensure the swift and efficient prosecution of offenders.