Tragic accident on Abuja, Kaduna highway claims 11 lives

Eleven people died when a commercial bus crashed into a parked truck on the Abuja, Kaduna Expressway early Wednesday. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reported that the bus hit the truck and caught fire.

The crash happened around 5:39 a.m. at Maraban Isa, near Jere in Kaduna State. A white Fiat Ducato bus collided with a MAN diesel truck that was parked on the side of the road due to a mechanical fault.

Andrew Longkam, the Kaduna Sector Commander of the FRSC, through the command’s Public Relations Officer, said early investigations showed that speeding was the main cause of the accident.

“The truck had developed a mechanical fault and was already parked off the road,” Mr Longkam said. “The Fiat Ducato came on high speed, rammed into the stationary vehicle and burst into flames.”

The commercial bus was carrying 16 people, all of whom were men. Eleven of them died at the scene, while the other five suffered injuries such as bruises, dislocations, and deep cuts.

Mr Longkam confirmed that all the deceased were passengers in the Fiat Ducato. He added that the truck only had two people, the driver and his assistant, who were outside fixing the truck when the crash happened and escaped without injuries.

“The first three occupants seated in front of the bus were trapped after the collision,” he explained. “The fire spread through the vehicle, while the remaining occupants also lost their lives.”

The FRSC Jere Outpost got the crash report at 5:42 a.m. A rescue team arrived just four minutes later. They evacuated the injured and took the bodies of the deceased to Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Memorial Hospital in Sabon Wuse.

The truck involved was a white MAN diesel truck with registration number JJN 581 XB. The bus was a white Fiat Ducato commercial bus with registration number MAN 243 XA.

The FRSC labeled the incident as a fatal multiple-vehicle accident and noted that speeding was the immediate cause. In total, the crash involved 18 people: 11 died, five were injured, and two survived, the truck driver and his assistant.