It was a red-letter-day for the family of a new bride, whose identity was not immediately known, and five of her bridesmaids who were killed in an auto crash, along Bida-Mokwa Road in Niger State. Also killed in the accident is the brother-in-law of the late bride and six others.
According to reports, the accident, which involved a Toyota Corolla and a commercial Nissan bus, occurred at the Lukoro village in Edati Local Government Area of the state, last Friday. The car carrying the bride and her maids was said to have collided with the Corolla car.
10 of the victims, said to be current and recent graduates of the Sultan Abdulrahman College of Health Technology Gwadabawa, had gathered to celebrate the wedding between another graduate, Umar Jibril Muhammad and a Dental Health student identified as Amina.
A witness, however, attributed the cause of the crash to over-speeding and wrong overtaking by the bus driver conveying the bride and her guests. It was gathered that 20 people were actually involved in the accident, out of which 13 died and seven others were critically injured.
The Niger State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Tsukwan Kumar, who confirmed the accident, said the crash involved two vehicles which include an ash-coloured Toyota Corolla from Mokwa, heading towards Bida, and a commercial Nissan bus heading towards Mokwa.
The ill-fated bus with registration number JJN 983 ZU had departed Minna and was heading to Ogbomosho in Oyo State when the unfortunate accident occurred. He said those who died included eight female adults, four male adults, and one male child while four female adults, one male adult, one male child, and one female child were injured.
However, Kumar said the injured victims were taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida for medical treatment, nine of the dead victims were handed over to their various relatives at the crash scene upon identification of the bodies, while the remaining four dead bodies were taken to the General Hospital Kutigi’s mortuary.
“The vehicles and properties, which include five phones, one international passport, one NIN slip, three handbags, two traveling boxes, goods and other personal effects belonging to the victims, were handed over to the Police Outpost in Wuya, Mokwa Local Government Area.”
