The ongoing scarcity of motor fuel across Nigeria has taken yet another fatal toll with the roasting of at least ten persons in a multiple accident near Asaba Airport on the Benin-Asaba Expressway.
An eyewitness account said that the heavily loaded Dangote Cement truck was racing towards Asaba metropolis when he rammed into a 14-seater Mitsubishi commercial bus and other vehicles, which had turned left and were running against the traffic towards the Agbor-Benin end of the road.
They said that the accident occurred primarily because of the long queues of vehicles waiting to buy fuel at the NNPC Mega-Station and partly by the recklessness and overspending of the driver of the Dangote Cement truck.
Most of the dead – five adult males and five adult females – were trapped in the commercial bus conveying them, under the truck which climbed over it before the wreckage burst into flames.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel who were attracted to the scene could only battle to evacuate the charred remains of the accident victims, most of who were burnt beyond recognition and “about three completely burnt” such that their remains could not even be gathered up.
Only the remains of nine of the burnt victims could be gathered together and taken away by the FRSC personnel. Thisday
