Eighteen passengers have been burnt beyond recognition in an auto crash recorded in Zakirai town, Gabasawa Local Government Area along Kano – Ringim road in Kano state.
Nigeriacrime.com gathered that the fatal accident occurred when two commercial vehicles – Volkswagen Sharoon – with registration number WRW 243 AA and another Toyota Bus XC 815 KMC collided.
Confirming the accident, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC Sector Commander in Kano State, Ibrahim Abdullahi through the Command’s spokesperson, SRC Abdullahi Labaran said 12 other passengers sustained various degrees of injuries.
Abdullahi said a total of 35 passengers were involved in the accident out of which 18 lost their lives.
According to the FRSC Sector Commander, “at about 8:35 pm. on June 2, 2023, we received a distress call about the accident and we quickly dispatched our personnel and vehicle to the scene of the incident to rescue the victims at 8:47 pm.
“The accident occurred as a result of excessive speed, dangerous driving and overloading which resulted in the loss of control, leading to a head-on collision and the Toyota bus bursting into fire immediately.
“The accident involved a total of 35 passengers in the two buses, out of which 18 were burnt beyond recognition while 12 others sustained serious injuries.
“The injured were taken to Murtala Mohammed General Hospital for treatment, while the corpses of the deceased were handed over to their relatives and were given mass burial near the scene of the crash,” he said.
The FRSC Sector Commander who decried the number of Road Traffic crashes recorded within the week in the state, warned drivers that FRSC will carry out investigations of the crash to find and prosecute the erring driver to serve as a deterrent to others.
He advised motorists to avoid overspeeding, overloading, wrongful overtaking, dangerous driving and any infraction that could lead to road crashes.
The FRSC Sector Commander however said the Command will intensify Public Enlightenment Campaign and undertake stringent patrol interventions, including mobile Court sittings, and targeted special patrols to stem the tide of rising intercity crashes involving Volkswagen Sharon buses and others.