Tears as 18 passengers die in Jigawa road accident

- The incident involved a tipper and a J5 bus on Gumel-Gugunju road in Gumel Local Government Area of the state

- Mr Angus Ibezim, the sector commander of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state, said has started to find out the main cause of the accident

No fewer than 18 people died in an accident involving a tipper and a J5 bus on Gumel-Gugunju road in Gumel Local Government Area of Jigawa.

The Sector Commander of the Federal Roads Safety Corps in the state, Mr Angus Ibezim, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Saturday, July 29.

Ibezim said the driver of the tipper with Reg. No. XY 744 GRK abandoned the vehicle on the road after it had broken down.

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He explained that the driver of the bus hit the truck from behind, which resulted in the mishap.

He said 15 of the occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, died on the spot while three others sustained injuries.

According to the sector commander, the other three passengers in the bus later died in hospital. He said the command had begun investigation to ascertain the main cause of the accident.

“We are now trying to find out the main cause of the accident.

“The first thing we suspect is that the driver of the tipper did not place any caution sign to indicate that the vehicle was faulty.

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“Secondly, we also suspect that the driver of the J5 bus was speeding or has bad or no headlights at all,” Ibezim said.

He said the corps had already removed the broken down vehicle from the road to avoid a recurrence of the ugly incident.

The sector commander added that the command had launched a man-hunt to apprehend the driver of the tipper now at large, saying that “the driver will surely be prosecuted”.

Ibezim advised motorists to desist from speeding under whatever circumstances.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that July 1, 2017 was a day many of the people who use the Auchi Benin Expressway in Edo state would remember for a very long time, if not forever.

A trailer reportedly belonging to Bua Cement Company experienced brake failure and plunged into a commercial bus full of people killing them and other bystanders.

Watch this NAIJ.com video on another incident that happened in a church situated in Abuja: