A series of tragic accidents on the Abuja-Lokoja highway at Gada-Biyu have claimed the lives of six passengers and 11 cows between Thursday and Saturday, with 14 other people sustaining various degrees of injury.
Eyewitnesses said the crashes occurred at the same location and involved multiple vehicles, including a trailer transporting cows, a Toyota Sienna, a J5 Peugeot bus, and a Daf trailer.
One of the witnesses, Dahiru Musa, blamed the incidents on diversions created due to ongoing rehabilitation work on deteriorating sections of the highway.
“But the fatal one of the accidents was that involving a trailer loaded with cows and a J5 Peugeot bus, in which two people from the bus were burnt to death,” Musa said.
Emergency response personnel from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were dispatched to the scene, where they evacuated the injured and retrieved the remains of those who lost their lives.
A senior FRSC official, who took part in the rescue effort and chose to remain anonymous, confirmed the series of accidents. He also pointed to road diversions as the main cause.
He stated, “Six people died while 14 others sustained injuries,” adding that 11 cows also perished when the trailer collided with the J5 Peugeot bus.
The injured victims were transported to general hospitals in Abaji and Kwali, while the corpses were deposited at the Kwali hospital morgue.
In the aftermath, our reporter learned that eight surviving cows, which were badly injured, were slaughtered at the crash site by their owners.
Butchers from Gada-Biyu village later came to purchase the meat.
Efforts to reach the FCT sector commander of the FRSC, Mr. Muta’ah Chorrie, were unsuccessful as he was reportedly out of the country at the time of the incidents.
