No fewer than 19 persons have been burnt to death in an accident at Okene Bypass on the Okene-Lokoja expressway in Kogi State.

The accident occurred in Kogi State on Sunday, April 28, 2024.

Confirming the incident, the Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Assistant Corps Marshal Jonas Agwu, said the crash involved a Dangote Cement truck and a Toyota Hiace bus.

Agwu said it took FRSC operatives, battling through the accompanying inferno, three hours to rescue two surviving victims of the accident.

He added that the Toyota bus was travelling from Kano and was on its lane when the Dangote truck driver travelling from Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, wrongfully overtook a vehicle and collided head-on with the bus.

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The FRSC spokesman said: “The impact of the collision resulted in an inferno that burnt the victims to death.

“The crash, which was caused by route violation and wrongful overtaking, involved 22 persons, all male.

“Unfortunately, 19 persons out of the 22 victims were killed, while one was injured.

“The two victims who got rescued by FRSC operatives survived without injuries because they complied with traffic regulations on the compulsory use of seatbelts.

“Corpses retrieved from the crash were deposited at Okene General Hospital.”

Agwu assured that the driver of the Dangote truck would be prosecuted in accordance with directives earlier issued by the Corps Marshal, Dauda Ali-Biu.

The Star