19 die in Edo road crash

Not less than ‎persons on Thursday died in a fatal road accident at Igoneki in Uhunmwode Council of Edo State.

The accident was said to have occurred on Isi road, off the Benin-Agbor road about 5pm.

Tragedy was said to have struck when a commercial bus, marked ABD 206XA, on its way to Auchi, had a head-on collision with a truck laden with livestock coming to Benin City, the state capital.

Sixteen passengers were said to have died on the spot, as the bus was severely wrecked, while eight other sustained varying degrees of injuries.

It was learnt that three of them later died in a hospital.

An eyewitness, who did not want to be mentioned, said some of the deceased comprised a family travelling for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

The spokesman for the Edo Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), George Otoaviokhai, confirmed the incident yesterday, saying the bus had attempted to overtake another vehicle in front of it when it rammed into the truck, marked DRZ347 XA, on the other lane.

He attributed the accident to dangerous overtaking, adding that the incident was avoidable.