A ghastly automobile accident along Bauchi to Darazo road, involving a bus conveying students of Federal Government Girls’ College, Bauchi, and two other vehicles, on Monday claimed seven lives.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the scene just as corpses of the deceased and those injured were being evacuated, reports that the students, 17 of them, survived the accident.
Some of the students who spoke to NAN but did not want their names mentioned, said they were indigenes of Borno and were being conveyed to Maiduguri as the school had closed for the long vacation.
They said six of their colleagues had minor injuries and had been taken to the hospital in Bauchi.
Narrating the cause of the incident to NAN, driver of the bus , Malam Dayyab Tahir,said a car coming from the opposite direction in high speed, veered off its lane and collided head-on with another car moving ahead of his bus.
He said that but for the automatic brake he applied which reduced the impact when his bus also rammed on the two vehicles, the casualty on the part of the students would have been very high.
Public Relatins Officer of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Bauchi, Mr Rilwan Suleiman, confirmed the incident to NAN.
He said dangerous driving and high speed by one of the cars involved, caused the accident.
He said that of the 33 passengers in the three vehicles, seven died and nine were injured. (NAN)