By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
Many people were feared dead on Wednesday on the popular Felele highway in Lokoja,kogi state capital, following an auto crash involving an articulated vehicle carrying diesel, The Reporters,an online publication, reports.
Our correspondent who visited the scene of the accident reports that bodies of victims were seen being conveyed to various destinations while efforts made to ferry survivals to the hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, who was descending from the crusher axis of the road toward the Nataco section was said to have lost control and rammed into a stationary bus with some students of the state Polytechnic, Lokoja and some secondary school students inside, about 9.30a.m.
The place is a crowded area,where selling and buying take place,many members of the public were also said to have died during the accident.
Various casualty figures;ranging from 10 to 50 were believed to be involved but the exact figure could not be ascertained as at the time of this report.
Four members from the same family were said be among the the people that lost their lives in the accident.
Officials of the FRSC and police were seen at the scene trying to control the unfortunate development.
Our correspondent reports that the road is noted for articulated vehicle accident because of its sloppy nature, coupled with carelessness on the part of some drivers.
Toward the end of 2019, similar accident caused by a frontline manufacturing company in Nigeria whose articulated vehicles are known to cause accident on that road,happened on the same road, leaving many casualties and sorrow on its trail.
The road serves as bypass to decongest the volume of traffic on Lokoja township road to other parts of the country.
Some of the sympathisers who spoke with The Reporters, in separate interview, described accident along Felele high, especially by articulated vehicles as one, two many.
They called on the Federal and kogi state government to do something urgent to arrest such tragedy by regulating the movement of articulated vehicles along that high way.
They also urged individuals or companies operating articulated vehicles to ensure that such vehicles are in proper mechanical fitness before putting them on road, to minimise accident.
Meanwhile, Kogi State Government has warned motorists, especially truck drivers against reckless driving in the State, saying it would stop at nothing to protect the lives of the citizens from “needless deaths resulting from reckless road use.”
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo stated this on Wednesday when he inspected the scene of the accident.
Fanwo, who described the accident as is unacceptable, called on all road users to begin to act responsibly.
“This is one accident too many and in each occasion, we lost many of our citizens. The Governor is clearly and understandably sad about this and has directed we intensify campaign against reckless driving, especially along the ever busy NATACO-Felele express way.
He said thehe Ministry of Transportation would up with a collaboration programme with the Ministry of Information and Communications to enlighten and educate road users about their responsibility while on road.
Fanwo said truck drivers must desist from drug abuse, and urged Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency to clamp down on truck drivers driving under the influence of such substance.
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