Auto crash claims 19 lives in Kogi

No fewer than 19 persons were reportedly burnt to death on Sunday in an auto accident at the Okene Bye-pass on the Okene-Lokoja Highway in Kogi State.

The Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Assistant Corps Marshal Jonas Agwu, made this disclosure in Abuja.

Agwu explained that the accident involved a Dangote Cement truck and a Toyota Hiace bus.

He stated that it took operatives of the FRSC, battling through the accompanying inferno, three hours to rescue two surviving victims of the crash.

Agwu further stated that the Toyota bus was travelling from Kano and was on its lane when the Dangote truck driver travelling from Port Harcourt wrongfully overtook a vehicle and had a head-on collision with the bus.

“The impact of the collision resulted in an inferno that burnt the victims to death.

“The crash, which was caused by route violation and wrongful overtaking, involved 22 persons, all male.

“Unfortunately, 19 people out of the 22 victims were killed, while one was injured.

“The two victims who got rescued by FRSC operatives survived without injuries because they complied with traffic regulations on the compulsory use of seatbelts.

“Corpses retrieved from the crash were deposited at Okene General Hospital,’’ Agwu stated.

He said that the driver of the Dangote truck would be prosecuted.