Tragedy struck around 8:30 pm on Thursday along Minna-Suleja road following multiple accidents involving three trucks, killing no fewer than 8 persons on the spot.
The accident was said to have occurred at Izom village in Gurara Local Government of the state.
One of the trucks carrying a container allegedly loaded with inflammable items was said to have burst into flames as soon as it collided with the other vehicles thus killing the driver and about three other occupants of the vehicle. The victims were said to have been burnt beyond recognition.
Although the immediate cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing the report, a source who pleaded anonymity said the substance inside the container caught fire immediately it collided with the other vehicles at a spot near a construction site.
The victims were said to have been trapped inside the truck as a result of the raging inferno.
Further checks revealed that three other victims were said to have been trapped inside one of the other trucks. The source added that it took the intervention of the construction firm to assist in the separation of the collided vehicles with the aid of its crane in order to remove the charred bodies of about five victims that were trapped in the vehicles on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the Director-General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Malam Ahmed Ibrahim Inga put the number of the casualties of the road accident at five.
Inga confirmed the incident on Friday, in Minna while speaking with our reporter.
According to him, “On Thursday, February 8, 2018, at about 8:30 pm there was a road accident involving three trucks, a Golf 2, Volkswagen Space Wagon as well as a Honda Civic Saloon car which resulted in an inferno.”
The NSEMA boss added that five people were killed in the accident while their corpses had been deposited in the Mortuary department of the General Hospital Suleja. One other victim of the incident was receiving treatment at the same hospital,” he said.