No fewer than 23 people were killed while 48 others were injured in a trailer accident along the Kano-Maiduguri road, under the Muhammadu Buhari Interchange Flyover, Hotoro in Kano State late Thursday.
The trailer was said to have left Takai local government area of the state en route Lagos State.
Spokesman of the state’s sector command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Abdullahi Labaran, said yesterday that the crash occurred on Thursday at about 9:50pm, involving 71 people.
While noting that the cause of the accident was due to over speeding which resulted in loss of control under the bridge, he said the trailer (DAF Model) carried both goods and passengers.
“Upon receiving the distress call, the FRSC Kano rescue team, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, promptly responded to the scene to carry out a rescue operation and restore normal traffic flow.
“The injured victims were immediately evacuated to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, for urgent medical attention,” he noted.
Labaran quoted the sector commander, C.C. U.M. Matazu, to have condoled with the family of the deceased and prayed for the quick recovery of the injured while warning drivers against the overloading of trailers with goods, livestock and human passengers, emphasising that such dangerous practices significantly increase the risk of fatal crashes.
Meanwhile, the chief medical director of the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Dr. Husseini Mohammed, has said the facility on Thursday received 26 victims around 11.00pm.
He said 13 of the victims had been stabilised and discharged; six were transferred to Sir Mohammed Sanusi Hospital due to inadequate bed space to cater for their immediate care, two others to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (due to the severity of their injuries) while five others died in the hospital, noting that none was currently in the facility.
