18 passengers die in Abuja auto crash

Eighteen people  died and nine others sustained injuries  in a  crash that occurred at about 01.35am on Wednesday along the Kwali– Gwagwalada road in Abuja.The accident involved a Marcopolo luxury bus with number plate Kano XG413FGG and a J5 bus  with marked Nasarawa XA726NSR.

The injured were taken to the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital for medical attention.Preliminary reports from the Federal Road Safety Corps indicated that the J5 bus was going to  Sokoto  from  Lokoja while the Marcopolo bus belonging  to GUO Group of companies, was heading towards Lagos from Kano.It was learnt that the J5 driver suddenly left his lane and ran into the other lane apparently due to fatigue, resulting in a collision with the luxury bus.The Corps Public Education Officer, Jonas Agwu, said 17 occupants of the J5 bus were confirmed dead at the scene while another person died in the hospital.

He explained that the FRSC rescue team recovered N217,000 from the wrecked J5 bus which would be handed over to the victims’ relations.Details of the fatal crash indicated that out of the 96 people involved, 70 were males, 16 females and 10 children.Agwu stated that among the  nine injured persons, two were female while all dead victims were male adults.It was learnt that 13 corpses were deposited at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital mortuary while four others were taken to the morgue at Kwali General Hospital.

The corps advised members of the public whose relations travelled through the  Kano – Lagos and Lokoja – Sokoto routes, to check the Kwali General Hospital and University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, for identification and collection of the corpses.Agwu expressed shock over the crash which occurred few hours after the end of the 2013 Easter patrol operations which was deemed to have recorded fewer crashes compared to last year’s Easter celebration.

“Motorists  are advised to avoid night journeys due to the inherent dangers associated with such trips,” he said.The corps assured the public of its determination to bring down road crashes by 30 percent and fatalities by 20 percent by the end of 2013 and reminded the  motoring public to report any road crash to the Corps’ emergency ambulance response centres located at the old parade  ground Abuja, Central Business District.