Auto crash claims 14 lives in Kogi

Fourteen people, including five children have lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident, which occurred on Anyingba-Ajaokuta road in Kogi State.

The State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC), Mr Solomon Aghure, confirmed this to newsmen in Lokoja on Friday.

He said three vehicles: two trucks and a passenger bus were involved in the accident, which occurred in the evening of Jan. 14.

Aghure said the trucks belonged to a cement manufacturing company while the bus carried the inscription, Bright Mass Transit.

He said the three vehicles were travelling on the same lane towards Anyingba when a truck suddenly hit the bus from behind and the bus as a result of the impact also hit the truck in its front.

Aghure said the bus was trapped in between the two trucks with all the passengers before his men arrived the scene to carry out rescue operation, which lasted for hours.

He lamented that 14 out of the 23 persons involved in the accident died on the spot, while nine others sustained various degrees of injury.

According to him, those who died included three female children, two male children, eight women and one man.

The Sector Commander further explained that three men, one woman and five children, comprising two male children and three female children were lucky as they survived the accident with some injuries.

He said the injured were taken to Holley Memorial Hospital, Ochadamu for treatment while the corpses were deposited at the morgue of Grimard Hospital, Anyingba.

Aghure attributed the accident to possible break failure on the part of the truck that hit the bus from behind but said further investigation would be carried out to determine its actual cause. (NAN)