BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Pains and unrestrained stream of tears decorated the Bauchi State landmark on Sunday as not fewer than 20 passengers were confirmed dead in a ghastly motor accident that occurred in the North East state.
It was indeed a black Sunday that jolted the people into frenzy with eyewitness’ reports indicating the accident involved two commercial vehicles that had an head-on collision at about 3pm within the Mangorori area of Tirwun, a suburb of Bauchi which is about three (3) kilometers away from the metropolis at 3pm.
The eyewitness told Forefront that the two vehicles involved were a Hummer bus belonging to Borno Express, which was heading to Maiduguri from Jos, with 18 passengers and a black VW Golf car coming from Misau heading to Bauchi with four (4) passengers on board.
It was also gathered that the collision impact had both vehicles bursting into flames immediately with 20 of the passengers burnt beyond recognition after a combined team of fire fighters from Bauchi put off the inferno.
However, the eyewitness confirmed that two female passengers survived the fire with various degrees of burns.
Also, Bauchi State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmed Wakili, who confirmed the accident, said the charred bodies of the victims have been deposited at the mortuary of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) while the two female survivors are receiving treatment at the same hospital.
Wakili, though could not confirm the cause of the accident, said Police personnel promptly responded to the distress call and joined in evacuating the victims.
However, calls put through to State Sector of the FRSC was not answered just as the SMS sent to the Sector Head of Operations (SHOPS), Mohammed Bature was not acknowledged until press time.
Also, the FRSC Sector Command PRO, Rilwanu Suleiman, said he was out of Bauchi when the accident took place and so does not have adequate information handy to share with the media.
