No fewer than 16 people have been confirmed dead following a fatal road accident along the Lokoja–Okene highway in Kogi State.
The crash occurred at Aku village near Osara on Friday morning at about 9:20 a.m., according to the Kogi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Lawal Fagge.
Fagge said the accident involved a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number BUU 17 ZD travelling from Jos to Lagos.
According to him, the bus was carrying 22 passengers, comprising 21 men and one woman.
The FRSC commander attributed the accident to fatigue and excessive speeding, which reportedly caused the driver to lose control before the vehicle veered off the road and plunged beneath a bridge.
He said 16 passengers, including 15 men and the only female passenger, died instantly at the scene.
FRSC officials reportedly responded quickly after receiving a distress call and rescued six passengers who sustained varying degrees of injuries.
The injured victims were taken to health facilities in Osara and the Specialist Hospital in Lokoja for treatment, while the bodies of the deceased were deposited at the Ankuri Mortuary in Lokoja.
The FRSC urged motorists to obey traffic regulations and avoid speeding and driver fatigue in order to reduce road accidents and prevent avoidable loss of lives on Nigerian highways.
