Some persons were feared dead and billions of naira burnt on Thursday at Abudu, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State following an accident involving two bullion vans carrying money, a fuel-laden articulated vehicle and two commercial buses.
The accident reportedly occurred on the Benin-Asaba expressway Thursday afternoon when one of the bullion vans reportedly had a head-on collision with the fuel tanker and instantly resulted in a fire that immediately spread to another bullion van.
Two commercial buses were said to have further rammed into these vehicles and instantly caught fire as well.
The number of human casualties involved in the inferno was yet unknown, but eyewitnesses feared that many lives may have been lost as they claimed that the tanker and the bullion vans went up in flames immediately after impact.
The eyewitnesses also added that they perceived money burning in the resulting fire.
The situation made Road Safety officials to divert traffic to a one lane of the ever busy dual carriage expressway.
Meanwhile, security operatives were said to have been mobilised to the scene apparently to prevent any attack on the bullion vans.
When contacted on phone Thursday Night, Edo State sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Samuel Odukoya, confirmed the accident, pointing out that the report he got did not indicate that bullion vans were involved in the inferno.
He said bullion vans were at the scene of the accident but they were not caught up in the explosion, adding that details of the incident including the number of casualties will be released later.
He noted that the incident occurred Thursday evening and that fire-fighters were able to put out the fire in good time.
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