Eleven persons lost their lives while eight others sustained injuries in a fatal accident that happened on Thursday at the Ovia river along the Edo state section of the Benin-Lagos expressway.
ROVING PEN gathered that the accident which involved a Toyota Hiace 18 seater bus and a truck belonging to Dangote happened around 11am at the failed section of the road by the Ovia river.
The truck was said to be heading towards Benin from Lagos on top speed before it rammed into the bus that was said to have slowed down at the failed portion of the road, killing 11 persons on the spot and injuring several others.
According to an eye witness, the “Toyota Hiace bus going to the East enroute Edo state slowed down at the bad portion of the Ovia river bridge but Dangote truck that was on top speed rammed into the bus, killing the passengers”
Some occupants of the bus and victims were coming from Lagos after attending a programme organized by a popular Lagos based church.
The Edo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Paul Okpe who confirmed the accident, said “We had a crash on the bridge at Ovia River this morning. A truck ran into a Toyota Hummer Bus and the casualty is 11 persons lost their lives, very unfortunate and eight persons injured.
“Both the dead and the injured were moved to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) by our ambulances and three vehicles were involved.
For the possible cause, we are leaving that to our Accident Investigations to establish, but it was the truck that ran into the vehicles and the casualties were in the bus.”
