Fourteen lives were lost on Saturday when a passenger bus collided with a petrol tanker in central Nigeria’s Niger state, a road safety official told AFP Sunday.
The passenger bus, traveling from Lagos to Kaduna, rammed into the oncoming tanker as the driver attempted to overtake another bus on a notorious stretch of highway outside Kusobogi village, 80 kms from the state capital Minna, Kumar Tsukwan, head of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Niger state, said.
“Fourteen people perished in the head-on collision, which resulted in a large explosion, while six others were injured and taken to hospital for medical attention,” Tsukwan said.
He blamed “speeding and wrongful overtaking” by the bus driver for the accident.
This latest accident underscores the grim toll of road accidents in Nigeria, which claims thousands of lives each year.
Last week 23 people died when a truck laden with goods and passengers overturned in the northern city of Kano.
Last year Nigeria recorded 9,570 road accidents which resulted in 5,421 deaths, according to FRSC data.