18 Burnt to Death along Akure-Owo Road

No fewer than 19 passengers were burnt to death on Saturday in an accident along the Akure -Owo Expressway in Ondo State.

Confirming the incident , the Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Police Command , Mr Femi Joseph , said that bodies of the victims had been deposited at the mortuary of the Ondo State General Hospital in Akure.

He explained that the accident involved a fully loaded 18 - seater bus moving towards Abuja and a lorry moving in the opposite direction.

Joseph said that the lorry had a head -on collision with the bus while trying to avoid a pothole on the road , after which the bus went up in flames with no single survivor.

“Today being June 8 , about 0330 hours , immediately after airport junction at Oba -Ile in Akure , there occurred a head -on collision between a lorry with registration No . GG 873 XM Lagos and an 18 passenger - seater bus with registration No . YLA 25 XU Adamawa.

“The 18 people burnt without a survivor , while the lorry driver and the motor boy ran away to an unknown destination.

“The cause of the accident was as a result of the lorry dogging a pothole when it swerved and had a collision with the bus going to Abuja while coming from Owo.

Efforts to trace the fleeing driver of the lorry is ongoing ,” the police spokesman said .


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