Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Kogi, Osun accidents: 19 killed, 23 injured


The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has confirmed the death of 19 people in different motor accidents on the Auchi-Okene highway in Kogi and along Ilobu/Ogbomoso routes.
While the Kogi State accident occurred on Monday and involved 11 corpses, the Osun State accident, witnessed the death of eight people and happened on Tuesday.
The FRSC, Sector Commander, Kogi State, Mr Olusegun Martins, told reporters in Lokoja on Tuesday that the accident occurred at a sharp bend on the road on the evening of Monday.
He said that 23 other people sustained various degrees of injuries in the accident, involving a total of 34 people.
Martins said that six of the victims died on the spot, while five others died in hospitals.
He said that two vehicles, a trailer loaded with cows, foodstuffs and passengers and a Toyota Corolla car were involved in the incident.
Martins gave the registration number of the trailer as Katsina XF 914 KTN, and the number of the Toyota car as Abuja BWR 756 BJ. The two vehicles were coming from Lokoja.
He said that all the dead victims were from the trailer coming from Abuja, while the driver of the car and its other occupants escaped unhurt.
Martins said that the accident occurred when the trailer hit the car from behind before losing control and crashing into a nearby bush.
The sector commander blamed the accident on speed, but promised that full investigation would be carried out on the incident in due course.
He further said that the corpses of the victims were taken to the morgue at the General Hospital, Okene, while the injured were taken to TAO Hospital and God’s Mercy Hospital in Okene as well as the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja. 
Similarly, traders at the Oluode popular market, Osogbo, Osun State yesterday locked up their shops to sympathize with six of them who lost their lives in a motor accident that occurred along Ilobu/Ogbomoso road in the wee hours.
The deceased, yam flour traders, were on a business trip when they met their sudden death in a lone accident involving an18- passenger commercial bus. The bus was said to have somersaulted three times.

One of the traders who spoke with our correspondent on the development, said the driver of the bus and its conductor died instantly.
The man said: “The remains of those that died in the accident had been deposited at an undisclosed hospital in Oshogbo.”
As at the time of filing in the report, no official statement had been issued out by the state police command or Federal Road Safety Corps.

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