18-seater bus plunges into river in kogi,4 die,13 alive,1 missing

By Correspondent in Lokoja.

An 18-seater bus, on Tuesday, plunged into the Black River, a tributary of the River Niger in kotonkarfe, near Lokoja in kogi state, leaving four persons dead,13 rescued and one missing.

Sources told our Correspondent that the tragedy happened at about around 11.30p.m, adding that the vehicle took off from Ojora in Lagos, going to Kano.

They traced the cause of the accident to the probability of the driver sleeping at that period, a development they said made him to loose control of the vehicle and subsequent plunged into the river.

Confirming the accident, the Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kogi State Command, Lokoja,Suleiman Mafara, said the command got the news of the unfortunate incident through distress call.

In response to the call, he added, he mobilised the men of the Disaster and Crisis Unit of the command who joined their their counterparts from the Federal Roads Safety Corps and volunteer divers and moved to the scene of the accident.

According to the Commandant, four corpse were recovered, 13 others rescued with one person missing in the process, adding that all hands were on deck to recover the missing person.

Marafa,who disclosed that the corpse had been deposited in a morgue in Lokoja,warned drivers to adhere strictly to road safety guidelines, to prevent avoidable carnage on road.