By IBIRONKE ARIYO

At least 19 persons were burnt to death in an auto crash on Okene Bypass on the Okene-Lokoja Highway in Kogi on Sunday.

Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Assistant Corps Marshal Jonas Agwu stated in Abuja that the crash involved a Dangote Cement truck and a Toyota Hiace bus.

He stated that it took operatives of the FRSC, battling through the accompanying inferno, three hours to rescue two surviving victims of the crash.

Agwu added that the Toyota bus was travelling from Kano and was on its lane when the Dangote truck driver travelling from Port Harcourt wrongfully overtook a vehicle and collided head-on with the bus.

“The impact of the collision resulted in an inferno that burnt the victims to death.

“The crash, which was caused by route violation and wrongful overtaking, involved 22 persons, all male.

“Unfortunately, 19 persons out of the 22 victims were killed, while one was injured.

“The two victims who got rescued by FRSC operatives survived without injuries because they complied with traffic regulations on the compulsory use of seatbelts.

“Corpses retrieved from the crash were deposited at Okene General Hospital,’’ Agwu stated.

Agwu assured that the driver of the Dangote truck would be prosecuted in accordance with directives earlier issued by the Corps Marshal, Alhaji Dauda Ali-Biu.

Ali-Biu had in the past called on the judiciary, the leadership of transport unions and other relevant stakeholders to join hands with the FRSC to restore sanity to Nigerian roads through speedy and effective prosecution. (NAN)

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