8 dead, five injured in auto crash along Okene-Lokoja highway

At least, eight persons, including a child lost their lives while five others sustained serious injuries in a fatal auto crash that occurred on the ever busy Okene-Lokoja highway on Thursday afternoon.
Eyewitness account confirmed that the accident occurred at about 2:55pm in a spot within Zariagi Village, near Lokoja, when a Toyota Hiace bus with Abia state registration number XB 111 KWU overtook another vehicle and had a head-on collision with an oncoming Mercedez bus with Lagos state registration number, XR 106 EKY, killing the eight victims instantly.
Confirming the accident, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Kogi, Mr Garba Mohammed blamed the unfortunate incident on wrong overtaking by one of the vehicles.
Garba said 22 people were involved in the accident, adding that eight died, while five others sustained various levels of injuries.

He said that four male adults and three female adults were among those killed alongside the male child.
Mohammed said that the corpses of the victims had since been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre’s morgue in Lokoja.
He added that the injured victims were being treated in the hospital, while efforts had been made to contact families and relatives of the dead victims.