18 people were killed with 9 others seriously injured after an early Wednesday morning fatal crash that occurred at about 01:35 hours along the Kwale – Gwagwalada road involving a Marcopolo luxury bus (XG413FGG) and a J5 bus (XA726NSR) with 96 casualties.
Preliminary reports from the FRSC indicate that the J5 was proceeding to Sokoto from Lokoja while the Marcopolo bus belonging to GUO group of company, was heading towards Lagos from Kano when the J5 driver suddenly left his lane and ran into the other lane apparently due to fatigue, resulting to a collision with the luxury bus.
The Corps further reports that on arrival at the scene of the crash, 17 occupants of the J5 bus were confirmed dead while an additional person died at the hospital and 9 others were left with serious injuries. The rescue team also recovered the sum of N217, 000.00 from the wrecked J5 bus which will be handed over to the victims’ relations.
Details of the fatal crash indicate that out of the 96 people involved, 70 were male, 16 female and 10 children comprising 7 male and 3 female. Among the 9 injured, 2 were female while all dead victims were male adults. 13 of the corpses were deposited at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital mortuary while 4 others were taken to morgue at Kwali General Hospital.
The Federal Road Safety Corps wishes to urge members of the public , especially those 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. The injured victims were also taken to the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital for further medical attention.
Meanwhile, the Corps has expressed shock at this crash which occurred barely 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. It further appeals to motorists to strictly avoid night journeys due to the inherent dangers associated with such trips. The FRSC also assured the public of its determination to bring down road crashes by 30 percent and fatalities by 20 percent by the end of 2013.
Similarly, the FRSC wishes to remind 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 (opposite the Federal Secretariat, Abuja), Old and new city gates Abuja, Kubwa road, Keffi fly over, Yangoji, Sabon Wuse (Kaduna road), Koton Karfe, Barde junction(Kaduna), Mararaban Jama’a roundabout (Jos) and Kugbo market (Nyanya Abuja) or call the toll free line 122 and 070022553772 for prompt response to road crashes and any other traffic-related challenges.
