Friday 31 August 2012

29 killed, 16 injured as buses collide, burst into flames

Two buses
collided head-on and
burst into flames in
northern Nigeria’s
Yobe state on Friday,
killing at least 29
people, police said.
“Two Toyota Hiace
Buses… travelling in
opposite directions on
the Potiskum-Kano
Road had a head-on
collision and thereafter
went off in flames.
Twenty nine persons
— eleven of them
burnt beyond
recognition — have so
far been confirmed
dead,” national police
spokesman Frank Mba
said in a statement,
adding that 16 people
were also injured.
Police said the accident
happened at 1:00 pm
(1200 GMT) in the
state’s Nengere area
and the injured were
taken to a hospital in
the neaby city of
Potiskum.
The statement
lamented the
“incessant cases of
accidents” on Nigeria’s
highways, considered
some of the most
dangerous in the
world.
The Federal Road
Safety Commission
(FRSC) Sector
Commander, Malam
Shehu Umar,
confirmed that the two
buses travelling on the
opposite direction had
a head on collusion
about 10 km from
Potiskum and killed
the passengers on
board.
“The buses went up in
fire as they collided,
killing the 29 victims
with nine burnt
beyond recognition,’’
he said.
Umar attributed the
accident to reckless
driving and over-
speeding, adding:
“accidents on this road
are mostly associated
with reckless driving
and over-speeding.’’
More than 17,000
people died in about
31,000 road accidents
across the country,
between 2007 and
2009, according to the
federal road safety
agency’s 2010 report,
the most recent
published.

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