Fifteen persons were burnt beyond recognition following an auto crash that occurred at 0.45km before University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku, Ozalla, in Enugu State.
The accident which involved a Toyota Hiace commercial bus and a Mercedes Benz truck with registration number AAA264XR, occurred at 8.20 p.m. on Saturday.
The spokesman of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, said 13 persons were on board the Toyota Hiace and two persons were in the Mercedes Benz truck.
Kazeem said the report revealed that the crash was caused by excessive speed and route violation which is driving against traffic popularly referred to in local parlance as ‘One Way’.
The Mercedes Benz truck driver in violation of established traffic rules drove against traffic thereby colliding with the Toyota Hiace commercial bus that was already on high speed.
As at the time of filing this report, the chairman of Nkanu West local government council was said to have authorised the commencement of a mass burial for the burnt victims in the presence of the Nigeria Police Force, FRSC, and other sympathisers.
The Corps Marshal, Dauda Ali Biu, while reassuring the public of the Corps’ readiness to combat crashes on roads, said that unfortunately, most of the crashes that had occurred would have been avoided if the motorists all played by the rules and exhibited high level of compliance to traffic regulations.
He therefore called on all road users to restrain from abusing traffic laws and always be safety conscious at all times.
