No fewer than 19 persons were left dead on Monday when a speeding vehicle crashed at a checkpoint in Plateau State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident happened on Monday night at the Hawan Kibo community in Riyom Local Government Area of the state.
The vehicle was said to be heading to Abuja from Adamawa State when it crashed.
A resident of the community, Christopher Maju, who witnessed the accident, narrated to our correspondent how it happened.
He said. “It was in the night. Several vehicles were already at the checkpoint in Hawan Kibo community after they were stopped by soldiers who usually checked every vehicle before allowing them to pass. Suddenly, we saw a bus speeding to the checkpoint and the occupants were shouting, ‘No brake, no brake!’
“Maybe in an attempt to dodge crashing on the long queue of vehicles at the checkpoint, the driver of the ill-fated bus swerved off the road. But it eventually crashed on a stationary articulated vehicle killing 18 people on the spot. But one injured person who was still breathing at the scene died while he was being taken to the hospital.”
The spokesman for the Federal Roads Safety Corps, Plateau State Command, Peter Yakubu, also confirmed the death of the victims.
According to him, their corpses had been evacuated to the hospital morgue.
Yakubu who blamed the accident on brake failure said, ‘‘No one survived the accident. The sole person taken to the hospital later succumbed. Eighteen died at the scene, while one died at the hospital. The whole thing was caused by brake failure. It is rather unfortunate.”
Our correspondent reports that Hawan Kibo has experienced recurring motor accidents due to the poor condition of the road, prompting citizens to lament about the situation.
Some sympathisers who spoke with our correspondent called on the government to intervene by repairing the Jos-Abuja Highway to avoid further waste of human lives.
