23 die as vehicles crash into collapsed bridge

Thirty-four people were killed in separate auto accidents in Katsina and Jigawa states between Monday and Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that 23 persons were feared killed in multiple crashes, when their vehicles plunged into a collapsed bridge at Yar’randa village in Charanchi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

NAN learnt that the first crash involved a bus conveying 24 passengers which plunged into the bridge few minutes after its collapse on Monday night.

According to the witness, the bridge collapsed at about 9.30p.m. due to a downpour, and moments after, the bus with registration number XA 328 KZR, conveying passengers from Kano to Katsina, fell into the bridge.

The villagers said efforts made to alert the bus driver was to no avail as he was on a high speed.

The bus and the passengers were swept by the heavy current and some of the dead bodies were recovered miles away in Ajiwa area, the villagers and officials told NAN.

NAN also gathered that only two of the passengers in the bus, including a student of the Federal College of Education, Bichi in Kano State, survived the incident.

The student, Jamilu Aminu-Elder, who was seen at the scene, could not speak to NAN as he was still in shock.

The police said 10 bodies had been recovered and deposited at the mortuary of the General Hospital, Kankia while the search for 12 others was ongoing.

Similarly, another person was reported dead when the vehicle he was in, a Mitsubishi truck, fell into the water at about 5.00a.m. on Tuesday.

Two other persons in the vehicle however survived, while a motorcycle rider with a passenger, who also plunged into the collapsed bridge were rescued alive.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Bala Senchi, who visited the scene, confirmed the story, but said the police were not clear on the number of death as the search for the missing passengers was still on.

He said policemen had been deployed to the area to control traffic and prevent further accident at the scene.

The Permanent Secretary, State Ministry for Works and Housing, Mallam Rabi’u Ibrahim,  and an official of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency had visited the scene to assess the damage.

Ibrahim said a report would be forwarded to the Katsina State Government for prompt intervention.

He condoled with the families of the deceased persons and prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died.

Also, some 11 palace guards of the Emir of Hadejia, Alhaji Adamu Abubakar Maje in Jigawa State were on Tuesday killed in a ghastly uuto accident. A source in Hadejia who confirmed this, said the palace guards were on their way to receive the emir, who had returned to the country from a medical trip.

An eyewitness said the vehicles conveying the guards  had an head-on coalition with a heavyduty tanker around Zakirai-Ringim road in Jigawa State.

A palace source said the entire emirate had been thrown into mourning, when the news of the incident filtered into the emirate.