Thirteen persons, including
children, were on Sunday afternoon burnt beyond recognition in a bus accident
which occurred in Effurun, Delta.
The accident, which involved an 18-seater bus, also left five of
its passengers with various degrees of burn injuries.
An eyewitness told newsmen that the
vehicle was coming from the PTI roundabout, but stopped to pick
a passenger who allegedly carried a jerrycan filled with petrol.
One of the survivors, Mr Martins Nwaowolo,
said there were 18 passengers in the bus, including children and a pregnant
woman.
“The driver stopped at the
roundabout to pick a woman carrying a jerrycan, and in less than two minutes
after the woman entered the bus, the jerrycan burst into flame.
“Only myself, the driver, his
conductor, a pregnant woman and one other survived the incident, but with
various degree of burns”, he said.
However, the Delta Commissioner for
Transport, Mr Ben Igbakpa, who visited the scene, said that it was wrong for people
to be moving about with petrol.
Igbakpa, however, described
the incident as unfortunate.
“It means that we have to do a lot
of monitoring and public enlightenment on the hazards of carrying inflammable
substances into a vehicle”, he said.
Meanwhile, men of the Nigerian
Police, Army and Road Safety Corps were seen busy evacuating the victims from
the burning bus. (NAN)
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