At least 3 mourners have lost their lives and 15 others sustained various degrees of injuries in a gastly motor accident that occured along Gboko-Makurdi road after the vehicle they were traveling in lost control and crashed into a tree.
The accident was said to have occurred after the Toyota Hiace bus, which was conveying members of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) lost control around the Benue State NYSC Orientation Camp located at Annune in Tarka local government area of the State.
A member of the CWO who do not want her name in print told our correspodent that the women who were members of St. Francis Catholic Church Nyiekaa at Owner Occupier Housing Estate Makurdi were returning back to Makurdi after attending the burial of one of their members when the auto crash happened.
According to her, “a Hiace bus conveying CWO women that attended a burial coming in from Wannune heading to Makurdi lost control and rammed into a tree, killing some of the occupants including the driver and injuring many.”
She disclosed that a nurse who work at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi (BSUTH) was among those who died in the fatal accident.
When contacted, the Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Yakubu Mohammed, confirmed the accident, saying out of the 19 persons that were involved, four died on the spot while 15 sustained various degrees of injuries.
“The crash occured today around 1148hrs. Only one vehicle was involved, a Toyota Hiace. There were 19 people in the vehicle out of which 18 are females and then one male adult. So, the number of injured persons is 15 while the number of those who died is four,” Mohammed said.
The FRSC sector commander, however, added that the cause of the accident was overspeeding, noting that overspeeding is the major cause of accident on Benue roads.