Not less than Twenty five persons were burnt to death when a fuel tanker and an
18-seater bus collided and went up in flames at Felele on the
Abuja-Lokoja highway on Friday, July 28. The tragic accident which occurred at about 1.30 pm also affected in
the raging inferno were about 10 cars parked by the road side.
An eyewitness told newsmen that two tricycle
riders popularly called Keke-NAPEP were equally burnt in the accident.
”The tanker and the 18-seater bus were trying to overtake each other.
But unfortunately, the tanker lost balance and it fell on the bus.
“We have been complaining to the government to fix this road. Now you
can see how many lives that have been lost. No fewer than 25 burnt
bodies can be seen here”, Ibrahim added.
Another eyewitness, Haruna Sadiq who sympathized with families of
those who lost their lives said they called on the fire authority for
more than 20 minutes but they claimed there was no fuel in their
vehicle.
”I am really disappointed with our firemen. We have been calling them
that people are dying here, but all we could hear is that they don’t
have fuel. What a shame,” he said.
Other witnesses said while some residents scampered for safety, others were seen with galoons trying to scoop fuel.
Men of the fire service and those of the Federal Road Safety Corps arrived later at the scene to salvage the situation.
Kogi State Sector Commander of FRSC, Mr Olusegun Martins, who
confirmed the accident said his men were still on rescue operation at
the accident scene.
He however said that he could not confirm the casualty figures until his men were done with their operations.
