29 killed, 16 injured as buses collide, burst into flames

Two buses collided head-on and burst into flames in northern Nigeria’s Yobe state on Friday, killing at least 29 people, police said.

“Two Toyota Hiace Buses… travelling in opposite directions on the Potiskum-Kano Road had a head-on collision and thereafter went off in flames.

Twenty nine persons — eleven of them burnt beyond recognition — have so far been confirmed dead,” national police spokesman Frank Mba said in a statement, adding that 16 people were also injured.



Police said the accident happened at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) in the state’s Nengere area and the injured were taken to a hospital in the neaby city of Potiskum.

The statement lamented the “incessant cases of accidents” on Nigeria’s highways, considered some of the most dangerous in the world.



The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Sector Commander, Malam Shehu Umar,  confirmed that the two buses travelling on the opposite direction had a head on collusion about 10 km from Potiskum and killed the passengers on board.

“The buses went up in fire as they collided, killing the 29 victims with nine burnt beyond recognition,’’ he said.

Umar attributed the accident to reckless driving and over-speeding, adding: “accidents on this road are mostly associated with reckless driving and over-speeding.’’

More than 17,000 people died in about 31,000 road accidents across the country, between 2007 and 2009, according to the federal road safety agency’s 2010 report, the most recent published.