It was gathered that the driver of the bus with registration number BEN 435 ZN had parked by the side of the road to pick a passenger when the tipper veered off the road and rammed into the parked bus.
Seven occupants of the bus were said to have died instantly, while two others who were rushed to the hospital reportedly gave up the ghost later.
The passenger, who stopped the bus, was however, lucky as he was said to have come down from the bus looking for change to pay transport fare when the accident occurred.
Among those who died in the accident were a woman and her two children, a pregnant woman and the driver of the bus whose name was given as Osaze.
The driver of the tipper was said to have fled immediately the accident occurred, making the people who gathered at the scene to set the tipper ablaze.
A resident of the area said, “We don’t know why the tipper driver veered off the road, but we know that he hit the bus and the bus tumbled.
“Some people said he overtook a vehicle, while some people said he dozed off on the steering.”
When contacted, the Edo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Samuel Odukoya, said nine people died in the accident and that the crowd at the scene prevented their vehicle from reaching the accident scene.
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