Seventeen people lost their lives, while four others sustained injuries of varying degrees in an accident which occurred along Kwali-Abaji Expressway in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday morning.
Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), FCT, Bisi Kazeem, said the accident happened around 6:30am yesterday.
Kazeem said the crash involved a trailer with registration number BAU 632 XA, and a Toyota bus with GME 201 ZU as its registration number. He described the incident as “avoidable” and attributed excessive speed and fatigue as the cause. He added that the fatigue was as a result of the driver’s indulgence in a night-long trip without observing adequate rest.
“Unfortunately, there were a total of 22 occupants involved in the crash, out of which 17 people, all male, were killed. Four others, also males, who were rescued alive sustained various degrees of injuries, while the remaining one male occupant was rescued without any injury,” the statement reads.
“As at the time of this statement, the emergency rescue team of the corps had concluded the rescue of the injured victims to Abaji General Hospital for immediate medical attention, while the remains of the dead victims were deposited at the mortuary,” he said.
Kazeem quoted acting FRSC corps marshal, Dauda Biu, as saying drivers must avoid speeding as crash investigations conducted over the years had attributed accidents to excessive violation of legal speed limits.
Biu, also, warned against night trips, while urging drivers to always observe a rest period of 30 minutes after every four-hour drive, so as to avoid the danger of fatigue on the highways. He said incessant violations necessitated the directive given by the federal government for the corps to commence sensitisation and enforcement of compulsory installation of speed-limiting devices.
Kazeem said the FRSC would beef up operational activities to curb the violations and encourage the public to patronise the FRSC toll-free line 122 and the national traffic radio 107.1 FM to report emergencies.