A devastating road accident has claimed the lives of no fewer than 10 people at the Tipper Garage Junction along Dutse-Bwari road in Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The accident, which involved a heavy-duty truck and several commercial tricycles, occurred on Saturday evening.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as horrific, with mangled tricycles, shattered windscreens, and bloodied belongings strewn across the busy intersection.
According to residents and passersby, the truck, which reportedly suffered a brake failure, lost control and rammed into the tricycles waiting to pick up or drop off passengers at the bus stop.
Sarah Audu, an eyewitness, recounted the terrifying moment: “I was about to cross over to the main road with my car when I saw the trailer on a high-speed drive past us and started crashing on vehicles.
“Bystanders at the Tipper garage junction were lucky that they quickly noticed that the trailer had failed to brake, so they quickly scampered for safety. The truck came speeding from the top of the hill and couldn’t stop. It rammed into the tricycles and crushed the passengers. Some died instantly.”
Another eyewitness, Joshua Udo, lamented the recurring accidents at the junction, saying: “This junction has been a death trap for a long time and nothing has been done to stop it. The FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, should come to our rescue here and if possible, he should tell all trailer drivers not to move on this road during the day, but at night.
“The trailer drivers that ply this route do not care about human lives at all; they drive their trailers as if they are the only people using this road, even when they know that their motor brakes are bad. This junction has claimed too many lives. The government should do something drastic about it.”
Emergency responders, including officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and worked alongside sympathisers to evacuate the victims to nearby hospitals.
The injured victims were taken to hospitals in Gwarinpa and Kubwa for medical attention.
An FRSC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that investigations had commenced to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.
The Dutse Tipper Garage junction has witnessed multiple accidents in the past, largely due to its chaotic layout and poor traffic control.
The incident has once again raised concerns about the junction’s safety and the need for urgent action from the FCT authority to prevent such tragedies in the future.
