Eight killed on Nigerian highway as bus collides with tanker

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed that eight people died in a road accident on Sunday night in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

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Six people were injured in the accident.

Joyce Alexander, the FRSC commander in Anambra, confirmed the incident to reporters on Monday in Awka, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

She said the accident occurred in the state at Ukpo Junction, on Nteje-Awka Road.

Mrs Alexander said the crash involved a Mack tanker without a registration number and a Toyota bus with registration number EKP375XM.

She attributed the accident to speeding and wrongful overtaking, leading to a head-on collision.

She said a witness account and preliminary investigations showed that the bus travelled from Abakaliki, in Ebonyi State, to Onitsha in Anambra.

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“The bus was speeding and overtook dangerously before colliding with the tanker, which was heading towards Awka on a single carriageway.

“The crash resulted in eight fatalities – four males and four females, while six others, comprising two males and four females, were injured.

“The rescue team from Nteje attended to the injured victims, transporting them to the hospital for treatment.

“They took the bodies of the deceased to Jerusalem Mortuary in Nteje after confirmation by a doctor,” she said.

The sector commander visited the surviving victims at Regina Caeli Hospital and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital in Awka to assess their condition and offer support.

She condoled with the families of the dead and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Mrs Alexander also met with the task force’s chief, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, to identify areas for improvement and implement measures to reduce the risk of future accidents.

She urged drivers to prioritise their safety and that of others by maintaining a safe speed.

“Drivers must ensure they drive at a minimum safe speed and only overtake when the road is clear,” she said.

There has been an increasing number of fatal accidents lately on Nigerian highways, many of them caused by speeding, according to the FRSC.

On 27 February, six people died in Enugu State when a speeding truck, carrying vegetables, lost control and tumbled into a ditch.

On 13 April, seven people died in Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria, in a road accident involving a commercial bus and an articulated vehicle.

Eight people were burnt to death on 9 March in Edo State, South-south Nigeria, when a truck descending a hill experienced a brake failure and crashed into several vehicles trapped in traffic.