12 Died, 16 Injured in a Fatal Accident in Kogi State

on Monday, Twelve persons lost their lives while 16 others sustained various degrees of injuries in a fatal accident that occurred at Irekpeni village, along the Lokoja-Abuja highway.

Eye witnesses said the accident happened in the morning when a luxury commercial bus in which the deceased were travelling rammed into an oncoming truck owing to a road block mounted by suspected armed robbers.

According to one of the witnesses the driver of the luxury bus with registration number KRD 799 LC in an attempt to manoeuvre his way slammed into the truck which was coming from the opposite direction.

According to him, the bus was trying to manoeuvre its way through but unfortunately had a head-on collision with the truck marked KTN 711 YZ.

The truck was loaded with dozens of cows, 20 of which died on the spot.

The accident, said the source, led to a gridlock on the highway before officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) cleared the obstruction.

The Kogi State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Charles Abochi, who confirmed the accident, said a total of 73 passengers were involved in the accident.

He said the luxury bus heading towards the North had a head-on collision with the truck while attempting to avoid a barricade set up by armed robbers on the road.

He said corpses of those that lost their lives were deposited at Aleri Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, both in Lokoja, while the injured were also taken to Federal Medical Centre for treatment.