Our correspondent
Eighteen passengers were burnt to death in Zakirai town on the Kano-Ringim Road in Gabasawa Local Government Area of Kano State.
The incident, caused by over-speeding, dangerous driving, and overloading, involved two commercial vehicles and resulted in a head-on collision and the subsequent bursting into flames of one of the buses.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Sector Commander in Kano State, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who confirmed the tragic accident, said the incident happened on Friday evening.
“We received a call about the accident at about 8:35 p.m. on Friday and dispatched our personnel to the scene to rescue the victims,” he said.
“The accident involved a total of 35 passengers in two buses, out of which 18 were burnt beyond recognition while 12 others sustained serious injuries.
Abdullahi lamented the magnitude of avoidable road crashes that have occurred in Kano State over the past week.
During a visit to the crash scene on Saturday, he warned motorists, particularly intercity and inter-state drivers, to refrain from overloading, excessive speeding, wrongful overtaking, and other traffic violations that could lead to such devastating accidents.
The injured victims were promptly transported to the Murtala Mohammed General Hospital in Kano for urgent medical attention.
Meanwhile, some of the deceased were given a mass burial at the accident scene, while others were handed over to their grieving relatives.
Considering the recent surge in road accidents, the FRSC has pledged to intensify public enlightenment campaigns and enforce stricter patrol interventions.
These efforts, according to him, include the operation of mobile courts to swiftly address traffic violations and ensure compliance with road safety regulations.
