By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
No fewer than 24 passengers travelling from Zaria in Kaduna state to Lagos have lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident involving a truck carrying 87 people at Etsuworo village, Kutigi Local Government Area of Niger state.
The accident which occurred at about 10pm on Monday along the Bida-Mokwa road, according to an eye witness, also left many with various degrees of injuries.
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Sector Commander, Niger state, Mr. Kumar Tsukwan, who confirmed the accident, said his men responded quickly to the distress call and subsequently cleared the road to avoid another accident.
Kumar who however could not give details of what transpired or the possibility that the driver slept off while on steering as rumour had it, said the truck conveying the 84 passengers, including 74 males, 6 females and 7 children, was involved in a lone accident.
“A truck carrying 84 passengers from Zaria and heading to Lagos was involved in a lone accident along the Bida-Mokwa. About 25 lives were lost, 45 sustained injuries including 39 males, 3 females and 3 children while 10 others survived with no injuries”.
Kumar said, “Our men responded immediately and the victims evacuated to the General Hospital Kutigi for prompt medical attention while the remains of those that died in the accident were taken to the mortuary at Kutigi as obstructions were immediately cleared”.
The FRSC Sector Commander also gave the list of items recovered from the scene of the accident to include; vehicle, properties (bags of grains corn other items recovered and handed over to the police the crash scene. NNL.
